Classroom goal structure and student disruptive behaviour

Area of Science:

• Educational Psychology
• Classroom Management
• Student Behavior

Background:

• Achievement goal theory links classroom goal structures (mastery vs. performance) to student learning and behavior.
• This theory provides a framework for addressing disruptive student behavior holistically.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the relationship between classroom goal structures and the occurrence of disruptive behavior.
• To examine how individual student goals and perceptions of classroom goals relate to disruptive actions.

Main Methods:

• Survey data collected from 388 ninth-grade students across 60 diverse high school classrooms.
• Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) used to analyze student-level and classroom-level data on goals and disruptive behavior.
• Student and teacher surveys assessed perceived classroom goal structures, personal achievement goals, and disruptive behavior in math classes.

Main Results:

• At the student level, male gender and lower academic achievement correlated with increased disruptive behavior.
• Personal mastery goals were associated with less disruptive behavior, while performance-approach and performance-avoidance goals were linked to more disruptive behavior.
• Classroom-level analysis revealed that perceived mastery goal structures reduced disruptive behavior, whereas performance-approach structures increased it.

Conclusions:

• Classroom goal structures significantly impact student disruptive behavior.
• Promoting mastery goals and de-emphasizing performance-approach goals may be effective strategies for reducing classroom disruptions.
• Findings support the application of achievement goal theory in developing interventions for student behavior.