Course enrollment as self-regulatory behavior: Who takes optional high school math courses?

Following the situated expectancy-value model of achievement motivation, this 3-wave study examines the stability and change of motivational patterns of students (M_age at the outset = 12.33 years; SD = 0.37 years; 54.5 % female) transferring from primary to lower secondary school. Four task values (attainment, cost, intrinsic, utility value) and success expectancies (self-concept) in the domains of mathematics and literacy were assessed three times with questionnaires. Latent transition analysis for task values and success expectations with gender and parental education as control variables and test scores of fluid intelligence, math and literacy as outcomes was performed. The results reveal four different motivational patterns: (1) “disengaged strained”, 27–31 % (low motivation and high cost), (2) “disengaged relaxed”, 19–25 % (low motivation and low cost), (3) “positively engaged”, 14–20 % (high motivation and low cost), (4) “struggling ambitious”, 31–34 % (high motivation and high cost). Except for the “positively engaged” profile, probabilities of staying in the same profile were relatively high. During the transition to lower secondary school the groups characterized by high motivation combined with either low (“positively engaged”) or high (“struggling ambitious”) cost became smaller, whereas the two other groups characterized by low motivation combined with either low (“disengaged relaxed”) or high (“disengaged strained”) cost became bigger. Particularly, students with a “positively engaged” profile have a higher probability to change to one of the disengaged profiles over time. Students with a “struggling ambitious” profile had the highest test scores in fluid intelligence, math, and literacy.

This study examined the effects of a utility value (UV) intervention on students' situational interest and boredom in science using hierarchical linear growth modeling. Data were collected in a diverse sample of 339 students in 13 seventh and ninth grade science classrooms using surveys and end-of-class reports collected on 11 occasions. Results showed no UV intervention effects on students' trajectories of situational boredom. Contrary to expectations, both seventh and ninth graders in classrooms with the UV intervention showed small but significant declines in situational interest over time relative to a writing comparison group. Intervention effects were not moderated by success expectancies. Explanations for these unexpected findings, as well as implications and future directions, are discussed.

The need to enhance the STEM workforce and, in turn, the STEM educational pipeline is a prevailing issue in the U.S. One critical component in this pipeline is students’ interest in STEM majors and their persistence in such majors, theorized to be a function of both students’ perceived value and expectancy beliefs in the subject matter. Using an expectancy-value lens, we examined cross-domain patterns of high school students’ expectancy beliefs and values in both mathematics and science using a person-centered or profile approach. With data from the High School Longitudinal Study, latent profile analysis revealed five profiles characterized as Low Math/Low Science (i.e., endorsing low levels of expectancy and value beliefs in math and science), Moderate Math/Moderate Science, High Math/High Science, Low Math/High Science, and High Math/Low Science. Taking into account aspects of students’ background and school context, we found that motivational profile membership predicted math and science high school achievement, college persistence, and both STEM major intentions and major choices. Moreover, there were a number of gender and racial/ethnic differences and contextual variation in profile memberships as well. Implications for theory and educational practice are discussed in relation to study findings.

Motivation predicts academic achievement beyond cognitive ability. Expectancy value theory (Eccles et al., 1983) is a widely accepted and powerful approach explaining academic achievement as well as educational choices and attainment. Recently, attention to the multiplicative term of expectancy and value beliefs has increased. Trautwein et al. (2012) reported a detrimental effect of high task value when expectancy beliefs were low. We aimed to replicate and extend their study by using a large, representative sample of students attending upper secondary school in the German federal state Schleswig-Holstein (N = 3367). Following Trautwein et al. (2012), we applied latent interaction modelling to test whether the predictive value of expectancy value interactions differs for grades, final examinations, and standardized test scores as measures of achievement in two domains. We took the multi-dimensional structure of task value into consideration, analyzing the four components (attainment, intrinsic value, utility and cost) separately. Both a verbal and a non-verbal domain (English as a foreign language and mathematics) were investigated. Overall, the results supported those of Trautwein et al. (2012). However, our findings suggested measure- and domain-specific differences when using expectancy value beliefs and their interactions to predict academic achievement. Interaction terms predicted final examination results in both English and mathematics. Further, interaction effects were significant for grades in English but not mathematics. In general, effect sizes of multiplicative terms were small, especially in contrast to expectancy beliefs. Findings are discussed regarding the practical and conceptual importance of the multiplicative term in expectancy value theory applied in an educational setting.

According to Eccles-Parsons et al.’s (1983) parent socialization model, children’s beliefs, values, and grades in mathematics are directly related to their parents’ values and perceptions of children’s mathematical abilities, which are often gendered. However, few researchers have examined how associations between parent and child beliefs and values and grades differ by parent and child gender. In the present study, we measured mathematics ability beliefs, utility value, and grades from 830 students in grades 5–12, as well as their mothers’ and fathers’ perceptions of their child’s mathematics ability and utility of mathematics for their child. Parents of boys believed mathematics was more useful for their child than parents of girls. In most cases, both mothers’ and fathers’ beliefs uniquely contributed to children’s own beliefs and grades. There were several interactions between mothers and fathers for children’s self-concept of ability and girls’ end of year grades, such that high ability beliefs of one parent compensated for low ability beliefs of the other parent. Associations between parents’ ability beliefs and utility value for their children’s end of year grades and mathematics utility value were stronger when the parent was the same gender as the child. However, we also found that a stronger association between parents’ utility value for their children’s and girls’ end of year grades occurred when the parent was the opposite gender of the child (i.e., fathers). Thus, it is important to take into account parent and child gender when understanding associations between parents’ beliefs and children’s beliefs and grades.