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The Grasshopper and the Ant: Motivational Responses of Low-Achieving Students to High-Stakes Testing

University of Chicago and Consortium on Chicago School Research

Advocates of high-stakes testing argue that providing strong incentives for students to take learning more seriously will result in greater student effort and motivation. Opponents argue that these policies set up low-achieving students to fail, looking to research on motivation for evidence that extrinsic and negative incentives such as the threat of retention will undermine students' engagement in school. This article seeks to evaluate these claims by examining the responses of 102 low-achieving sixth- and eighth-grade students to Chicago's highly publicized effort to end social promotion. Does this policy lead students to work harder? If so, to what extent does hard work pay off? The majority of these students described increased work effort under the policy. They reported greater attention to class work, increased academic press and support from teachers, and more time spent studying outside school. These efforts were confirmed by teachers' reports. Students with high levels of work effort generally had greater-than-average learning gains and positive promotional outcomes. Approximately one third, however, showed little work effort despite a desire not to be retained. These students faced significantly larger skill gaps and barriers to learning both within and outside school than did their peers with high work effort. How teachers manage high-stakes testing policies—whether they create environments that make low-achieving students feel supported and efficacious in responding to new demands and whether they direct students' efforts in productive ways—has an important impact on student motivation and passing rates.

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