Task-Specific Self-Evaluation as a Measure of Achievement Motivation

The validity of an internalized self-reinforcement paradigm as a model of achievement motivation was investigated with a sample of 230 ninth grade black pupils of an inner-city public school located in a midwestern metropolitan area. If achievement behavior is controlled and sustained by covert internal evaluations of performance, then students who more frequently report positive self-evaluations during some specific school-like task may be predicted to: a.) have higher grade point averages than students who less frequently report self-evaluations of task performance; b.) have lower rates of absence from school than students who less frequently report positive self-evaluations of task performance; c.) have greater levels of expected task performance than students who less frequently report positive self-evaluations of performance; d.) have greater expectations that they will be able to positively evaluate themselves for task performance than students who less frequently report positive self-evaluations; e.) have greater congruence between self-established standards and actual performance. Analyzed by 2-way analysis of variance (self-evaluation x sex), the data supported each of the predictions. The results were interpreted to support the conception of self-evaluations of task performance as a model of achievement motivation. In the absence of external rewards, the student sustains his academic behavior by the quality of the covert self-evaluations of his own performance. The positive or negative value of these evaluations depends on self-established standards. Students who tend to evaluate themselves negatively may do so as a function of arbitrarily high standards. Their performance on academic tasks will be less well sustained and their functioning at consequently lowered levels of achievement. The paper-and-pencil self-reports used in the study yielded results comparable to the elaborate laboratory instrumentation of previous studies.     

College Students' Evaluations of Teaching and Grade Inflation

Research in Higher Education - This study investigated the question: Has the use of student evaluations of teaching effectiveness been a contributing factor to a trend of grade inflation in a...