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Assessing the Multiple Dimensions of Engagement to Characterize Learning: A Neurophysiological Perspective
Published on: July 1, 2015
Teacher performance goal practices and elementary students' behavioral engagement: a developmental perspective.
Jan N Hughes1, Wei Wu, Stephen G West
1Department of Educational Psychology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4225, United States. jhughes@tamu.edu
Journal of School Psychology
|January 11, 2011
Summary
Teacher performance goal practices increased while student engagement declined in early elementary years. However, students became more engaged when transitioning to classrooms with fewer performance goal practices.
Area of Science:
- Educational Psychology
- Child Development
- Classroom Management
Background:
- Understanding the longitudinal development of classroom practices and student engagement is crucial for academic success.
- Previous research has not longitudinally examined performance goal practices in early elementary education.
- Academically at-risk students may exhibit different trajectories in engagement and response to classroom practices.
Purpose of the Study:
- To investigate the growth trajectories of classroom performance goal practices and student behavioral engagement from grades 2 to 5.
- To examine the synchronous relationship between teacher performance goal practices and student behavioral engagement.
- To understand how transitions to new classroom environments impact student engagement.
Main Methods:
- Longitudinal study tracking 497 academically at-risk elementary students across grades 2 to 5.
- Utilized autoregressive latent trajectory (ALT) models to analyze growth and synchronous relations.
- Data collected via teacher-reported measures of performance goal practices and student behavioral engagement.
Main Results:
- Teacher use of performance goal practices generally increased, while student behavioral engagement declined over the four years.
- Students demonstrated increased behavioral engagement when moving to classrooms with teachers employing fewer performance goal practices.
- No significant moderation effect of gender was found on these relationships.
Conclusions:
- Findings suggest a potential negative association between increasing performance goal practices and declining student engagement in early elementary.
- Transitioning to classrooms with less emphasis on performance goals can positively impact student behavioral engagement.
- Results offer implications for designing effective teacher professional development programs focused on classroom practices and student engagement.
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