Over the past 25 years, achievement goal theory has emerged as one of the most prominent theories of achievement motivation. This chapter uses an achievement goal framework to examine the influence of classroom and school environments on students' academic motivation and achievement. Considerable evidence suggests that elementary and secondary students show the most positive motivation and learning patterns when their school settings emphasize mastery, understanding, and improving skills and knowledge. Whereas school environments that are focused on demonstrating high ability and competing for grades can increase the academic performance of some students, research suggests that many young people experience diminished motivation under these conditions. The implications of achievement goal theory for examining the impact of school reform are discussed.

We used structural equation analysis to test the validity of a goal mediational model for conceptualizing the influence of individual and situational variables on students' cognitive engagement in science activities. Fifth- and sixth-grade students (N = 275) from 10 classrooms completed a set of questionnaires designed to assess their goal orientations and their use of high-level or effort-minimizing learning strategies while completing six different science activities. Results indicate that students who placed greater emphasis on task-mastery goals reported more active cognitive engagement. In contrast, students oriented toward gaining social recognition, pleasing the teacher, or avoiding work reported a lower level of cognitive engagement. The relative strength of these goals was related to differences in students' intrinsic motivation and attitudes toward science. Our analyses also suggested that these variables exerted a greater influence in small-group than in whole-class activities.

We used structural modeling procedures to assess the influence of past math grades, math ability perceptions, performance expectancies, and value perceptions on the level of math anxiety reported in a sample of 7th-through 9th-grade students (N = 250). A second set of analyses examined the relative influence of these performance, self-perception, and affect variables on students' subsequent grades and course enrollment intentions in mathematics. The findings indicated that math anxiety was most directly related to students' math ability perceptions, performance expectancies, and value perceptions. Students' performance expectancies predicted subsequent math grades, whereas their value perceptions predicted course enrollment intentions. Math anxiety did not have significant direct effects on either grades or intentions. The findings also suggested that the pattern of relations are similar for boys and girls. The results are discussed in relation to expectancy-value and self-efficacy theories of academic achievement. A strong background in mathematics is critical for many career and job opportunities in today's increasingly technological society. However, many academically capable students prematurely restrict their educational and career options by discontinuing their mathematical training early in high school. Several recent surveys (National Assessment of Educational Progress [NAEP], 1988; National Center for Educational Statistics [NCES], 1984) indicate that only half of all high school graduates enroll in mathematics courses beyond the 10th grade. These reports also indicate that fewer women than men enroll in the more advanced courses in high school mathematics (NAEP, 1988; NCES, 1984), although the "gender gap" is beginning to narrow (Chipman & Thomas, 1985; Eccles, 1987). Furthermore, students of both sexes, but particularly women, do not attain a high level of mathematical competency, even if they have completed 4 years of high school math (NAEP, 1988).

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We assessed math anxiety in 6th-through 12th-grade children (N = 564) as part of a comprehensive longitudinal investigation of children's beliefs, attitudes, and values concerning mathematics. Confirmatory factor analyses provided evidence for two components of math anxiety, a negative affective reactions component and a cognitive component. The affective component of math anxiety related more strongly and negatively than did the worry component to children's ability perceptions, performance perceptions, and math performance. The worry component related more strongly and positively than did the affective component to the importance that children attach to math and their reported actual effort in math. Girls reported stronger negative affective reactions to math than did boys. Ninth-grade students reported experiencing the most worry about math and sixth graders the least. The negative effects of math anxiety on students' achievement in mathematics has interested researchers for several years. Richardson and Woolfolk (1980) discussed how certain features of math, such as its precision, logic, and emphasis on problem solving, make it particularly anxiety provoking for some individuals. Studies have documented the negative effects of math anxiety on math performance and achievement (Richardson & Suinn, 1972; Suinn, Edie, Nicoletti, & Spinelli, 1972). Several researchers also have proposed that math anxiety contributes to observed sex differences in mathematics achievement and course enrollment patterns (e.g., Fennema, 1977; Fox, 1977; Tobias & Weissbrod, 1980). Various questions concerning math anxiety have received scant research attention. First, the dimensionality of math anxiety has not been explored fully. In the test anxiety area, Liebert and Morris (1967) distinguished two components of test anxiety, worry and emotionality. Worry is the cognitive component of anxiety, consisting of self-deprecatory thoughts about one's performance. Emotionality is the affective component of anxiety, including feelings of nervousness, tension, and unpleasant physiological reactions to testing situations. Morris and Liebert showed that these two components of anxiety are empirically distinct, though they are correlated, and that worry relates more strongly than emotionality to poor test performance (see Morris, Davis, & Hutchings, 1981, for a review of the work on worry and emotionality). Anxiety theorists (e.g., Sarason 1986; Wine, 1971, 1980) believe that the worry or cognitive component of test anxiety interferes most with achievement performance. Most measures of math anxiety focus on affective reactions to math. For instance, Dreger and Aiken's (1957) three-item math anxiety scale is used to assess emotional reactions to