The Role of Identity-Based Motivation in Teachers' Advanced Math Course Placement Decisions

• In Event: 34.027 - Access to Accelerated Mathematics Course-Taking in Middle School and Beyond

Abstract

This study aims to identify the skills and characteristics middle school teachers believe are essential to success in eighth grade algebra. More specifically, we use Identity-Based Motivation theory (Oyserman, 2015) to investigate other factors besides test scores and grades that may be important to course placement decisions. This theoretical framework predicts and demonstrates that people prefer to act and make sense of their experiences in identity-congruent ways. The implication is two-fold. First, students are more likely to succeed in advanced mathematics courses if they see math knowledge as a route to attaining their adult future selves (identity congruence) and interpret experienced difficulties with math as implying its importance (procedural readiness). Second, experienced teachers know this and use this information when making course placement decisions.

We therefore predicted that experienced teachers would be more likely to place a student in an advanced 8th-grade math course when provided evidence of high levels of student motivation and perseverance in the face of difficulty. This Institute of Education Sciences-funded study collected data on an online platform (Qualtrics, March to June 2017) in three districts (Chicago Public Schools, Elk Grove CA Unified School District, and Oakland County, MI). In a repeated measures within-subjects design, we presented 69 experienced 8th-grade algebra teachers from 27 schools with 20 profiles of 7th-grade students.

These hypothetical profiles presented teachers with students who were high and low on motivation (e.g., the student “cares about doing well in school” and “sees learning math as important for his/her future”) and perseverance (e.g., “keeps focused even when encountering difficulty” and “tries new strategies when attempted ones do not work”). In addition, these profiles varied along two achievement constructs: prior test scores (proficiency) and prior mathematics course grades (performance). Teachers were asked to judge whether the student should be placed in 8th grade algebra, would successfully complete the course, and would require additional supports to be successful. 

We tested the main and interaction effects of prior grades, test scores, motivation, and perseverance on each of the teacher’s judgments in a series of multi-level models. In each of the multi-level models, student-profile responses were nested within teacher, with a fixed effect for the school district within in which the teacher was located.

As shown in Figure 1, teachers place substantial emphasis on students’ levels of persistence and motivation when making placement decision for students with higher and lower levels of prior proficiency and performance. For example, having high motivation and persistence relative to low motivation and persistence doubled placement rates for students with high grades, high test scores or low grades, high test scores, and quadrupled placement rates for students with low grades, low test scores or high grades, low test scores).

These findings suggest that researchers and policymakers should use a holistic view of student readiness for advanced math courses, as practitioners’ judgments of readiness place significant weight on the role students’ noncognitive characteristics such as motivation and persistence in the face of difficulty when making advanced course placement decisions.

Authors

• Nicholas Andrew Sorensen, American Institutes for Research

• Ryan Curtis Eisner, American Institutes for Research

• Daphna Oyserman, University of Southern California

• Kirk Walters, American Institutes for Research