THE INFLUENCE OF STUDENT MOTIVATION ON SCHOOL ACHIEVEMENT SCORES

The paper presents research results of the longitudinal study that is being conducted at School Effectiveness Research Unit (IER). The main research focus of the Unit is to identify key determinants of the effectiveness of school education. The study focus on student attainment and their biological, psychological, social and educational determinants. The study started in autumn 2010 and included the cohort of students who began the third grade of primary schools that year (N=5000). Previous research show some relationship between student’s motivation and their school performance (Grolnick, Friendly & Bellas, 2009; Turner & Meyer, 2009; Unrau & Schlackman, 2006). In the reported study a modified version a polish measure for student’s school motivation (reported by their parents) was used. Two forms of the scale were administered - the first one was a measure of retrospective (three years earlier) level of student motivation, the second one was a measure of its current level. The dependent variables were achievement scores on language and mathematical skills. A significant relationship between these variables was found. The influence of motivation is stronger for the language skills scale than for the mathematical skills scale. The retrospective measures also have stronger effects on student’s achievement than measures for present motivation. These effects are strongly moderated by socioeconomical status of the family.