In response to widespread perceptions about school failure and student underachievement, this paper proposes that the culture of the nation's schools must be transformed to improve student motivation and achievement. The problem of schools is rooted in the core beliefs held by staff, students, and school leaders about the purposes, goals, and…

Recent research on motivation and education has focused on the psychological environment of the classroom. Special consideration has been given to perceived stresses on goals, purposes, and meanings of learning activities and the relationships of these to motivation and achievement. The study summarized in this paper builds on this work,…

Recent school effectiveness research has underscored the importance of teachers' personal investment and commitment--not just to education, but to the particular mission operating in their own school setting. There is growing evidence that aspects of the school organization are related to both job satisfaction and commitment. Employing path…

After defining school culture in terms of Organizational Culture, after Maehr and Braskamp (1986), this document presents three related studies, each based on data from a 1989 statewide assessment effort by the University of Illinois and the Illinois State Board of Education. The studies explore the relationship between school culture, motivation,…

This book deals with changing school culture to bring about school effectiveness and to create a culture that enhances student motivation and learning. The argument is presented in terms of real world schools and in the context of a theory focusing on the child and learning that is generalizable and practical. The first part outlines a vision for…

Years ago the prevailing assumption was that there was something wrong with "unmotivated" minority children, but gradually educators have come to realize that there may be something wrong with the schools, and that it is possible to do something to engage children in learning. Theories of motivation are shifting from thinking about motivation as…

School reform demands rethinking of schooling goals, culture, and leadership. Research evidence shows that "task" goals (stressing learning for its own sake) are preferable to "ability" goals (stressing learning as means to an end). School policies and practices must be redefined according to the learning task, degree of student autonomy,…

Suggests that a school environment that stresses learning or task goals is more conducive to cognitive engagement than an environment that emphasizes the demonstration of ability. The initial results of a case study in a middle grades school illustrate how stress on task or ability goals affects the school learning environment and student…

Recent research has indicated that a learning setting's "psychological environment" can make a difference in student achievement and motivation. This has been found to be true in the case of smaller learning settings, such as the classroom. Recently, research on school culture has suggested that schools do indeed differ in the kind of…

Discusses implications of achievement goal theory on the achievement motivation of African American students in predominantly white schools. Studies suggest that schools which emphasize task goals are more conducive to black students' academic success than schools that emphasize ego goals. Notes seven dimensions of school culture that provide a…