The Teacher Motivation Questionnaire: The Development of an Instrument to Measure Teachers’ Achievement Goal Orientations in a High-Stakes Context

• In Event: Roundtable Session 1
  In Roundtable Session: Research and Assessment in the Lives of Teachers

Abstract

Researchers have begun to examine teachers' achievement goal orientations as a framework for understanding teacher motivation and practice, but few instruments have been developed to examine teachers' achievement goal orientations in the United States. The purpose of this study was to develop and refine an instrument to measure teachers' achievement goal orientations in relation to self-efficacy for teaching and perceptions of help-seeking, as well as the climate created by education policies focusing on accountability and high-stakes testing. Findings suggest the refined instrument presented here is suitable for measuring teachers' achievement goal orientations in the United States, and illustrate relationships between teachers' achievement goal orientations and school standing in terms of accountability, as well as teacher self-efficacy and perceptions of help-seeking.

Authors

• Amanda Turner, Connecticut State Department of Education

• Hadley J. Solomon, University of New Hampshire