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Showing papers on "Academic achievement published in 1986"


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, Dweck describes adaptive and maladaptive motivational patterns and presents a research-based model of motivational processes and argues that this approach has important implications for practice and the design of interventions to change maladaptative motivational processes, and observes that empirically based interventions may prevent current achievement discrepancies.
Abstract: Motivational processes influence a child's acquisition, transfer, and use of knowledge and skills, yet educationally relevant conceptions of motivation have been elusive. Using recent research within the social-cognitive framework, Dweck describes adaptive and maladaptive motivational patterns and presents a research-based model of motivational processes. This model shows how the particular goals children pursue on cognitive tasks shape their reactions to success and failure and influence the quality of their cognitive performance. Dweck argues that this approach has important implications for practice and the design of interventions to change maladaptive motivational processes. She presents a compelling proposal for explaining motivational influences on gender differences in mathematics achievement and observes that empirically based interventions may prevent current achievement discrepancies.--The Editors Most research on effective learning and performance of cognitive tasks analyzes the particular cognitive skills required to succeed at those tasks. In contrast, the focus here is on motivational processes that affect success on cognitive tasks. That is, the focus is on psychological factors, other than ability, that determine how effectively the individual acquires and uses skills. It has long been known that factors other than ability influence whether children seek or avoid challenges, whether they persist or withdraw in the face of difficulty, and whether they use and develop their skills effectively. However, the components and bases of adaptive motivational patterns have been poorly understood. As a resuit, commonsense analyses have been limited and have not provided a basis for effective practices. Indeed, many \"commonsense\" beliefs have been called into question or seriously qualified by recent research--for example, the belief that large amounts of praise and success will establish, maintain, or reinstate adaptive patterns, or that \"brighter\" children have more adaptive patterns and thus are more likely to choose personally challenging tasks or to persist in the face of difficulty. In the past 10 to 15 years a dramatic change has taken place in the study of motivation. This change has resulted in a coherent, replicable, and educationally relevant body of findings--and in a clearer understanding of motivational phenomena. During this time, the emphasis has shifted to a social-cognitive approachwaway from external contingencies, on the one hand, and global, internal states on the other. It has shifted to an emphasis on cognitive mediators, that is, to how children construe the situation, interpret events in the situation, and process information about the situation. Although external contingencies and internal affective states are by no means ignored, they are seen as part of a process whose workings are best penetrated by focusing on organizing cognitive variables. Specifically, the social-cognitive approach has allowed us to (a) characterize adaptive and maladaptive patterns, (b) explain them in terms of specific underlying processes, and thus (c) begin to provide a rigorous conceptual and empirical basis for intervention and practice. Adaptive and Maladaptive Motivational Patterns The study of motivation deals with the causes of goaloriented activity (Atkinson, 1964; Beck, 1983; Dollard & Miller, 1950; Hull, 1943; Veroff, 1969). Achievement motivation involves a particular class of goals--those involving competence--and these goals appear to fall into two classes: (a) learning goals, in which individuals seek to increase their competence, to understand or master something new, and (b) performance goals, in which individuals seek to gain favorable judgments of their competence or avoid negative judgments of their competence (Dweck & Elliott, 1983; NichoUs, 1984; Nicholls & Dweck, 1979). l Adaptive motivational patterns are those that promote the establishment, maintenance, and attainment of personally challenging and personally valued achievement goals. Maladaptive patterns, then, are associated with a failure to establish reasonable, valued goals, to maintain effective striving toward those goals, or, ultimately, to attain valued goals that are potentially within one's reach. Research has clearly documented adaptive and maladaptive patterns of achievement behavior. The adaptive (\"mastery-oriented\") pattern is characterized by challenge seeking and high, effective persistence in the face of obstacles. Children displaying this pattern appear to enjoy exerting effort in the pursuit of task mastery. In contrast, the maladaptive (\"helpless\") pattern is characterized by challenge avoidance and low persistence in the face of difficulty. Children displaying this pattern tend to evidence negative affect (such as anxiety) and negative self-cogniCorrespondence concerning this article should be addressed to Carol S. Dweck, Department of Psychology, University of Illinois, 603 E. Daniel, Champaign, IL 61820. l The word performance will be used in several ways, not only in connection with performance goals. It will also be used to refer to the child's task activity (performance of a task) and to the product of that activity (level of performance). The meaning should be clear from the context. 1040 October 1986 9 American Psychologist Copyrisht 1986 by the American Psychological Association, Inc. 0003-066X/86/$00.75 Vol. 41, No. 10, 1040-1048 Table 1 Achievement Goals and Achievement Behavior Confidence in Theory of intelligence Goal orientation present ability Behavior pattern Entity theory (Intelligence is fixed) Incremental theory (Intelligence is malleable) > Performance goal (Goal is to gain positive judgments/avoid negative judgments of competence) > Learning goal (Goal is to increase competence) If high ---> Mastery-oriented Seek challenge but High persistence If low ~ Helpless Avoid challenge Low persistence If high > Mastery-oriented ioOr ~ ' Seek challenge (that fosters learning) High persistence tions when they confront obstacles (e.g., Ames, 1984; C. Diener & Dweck, 1978, 1980; Dweck & Reppucci, 1973; Nicholls, 1975). Although children displaying the different patterns do not differ in intellectual ability, these patterns can have profound effects on cognitive performance. In experiments conducted in both laboratory and classroom settings, it has been shown that children with the maladaptive pattern are seriously hampered in the acquisition and display of cognitive skills when they meet obstacles. Children with the adaptive pattern, by contrast, seem undaunted or even seem to have their performance facilitated by the increased challenge. If not ability, then what are the bases of these patterns? Most recently, research has suggested that children's goals in achievement situations differentially foster the two patterns. That is, achievement situations afford a choice of goals, and the one the child preferentially adopts predicts the achievement pattern that child will display. Table 1 summarizes the conceptualization that is emerging from the research. BasieaUy, children's theories of intelligence appear to orient them toward different goals: Children who believe intelligence is a fixed trait tend to orient toward gaining favorable judgments of that trait (performance goals), whereas children who believe intelligence is a malleable quality tend to orient toward developing that quality (learning goals). The goals then appear to set up the different behavior patterns. 2 Learning and Performance Goals Contrasted How and why do the different goals foster the different patterns? How do they shape task choice and task pursuit to facilitate or impede cognitive performance? The research reviewed below indicates that with performance goals, the entire task choice and pursuit process is built around children's concerns about their ability level. In contrast, with learning goals the choice and pursuit processes involve a focus on progress and mastery through 2 See M. Bandura and Dweck (1985), Dweck and Elliott (1983), and Leggett (1985) for a more extensive treatment of children's theories of intelligence. The present article will focus on achievement goals and their allied behavior patterns. effort. Further, this research shows how a focus on ability judgments can result in a tendency to avoid and withdraw from challenge, whereas a focus on progress through effort creates a tendency to seek and be energized by challenge. Although relatively few studies as yet have explicitly induced and compared (or measured and compared) learning versus performance goals (see M. Bandura & Dweck, 1985; Elliott & Dweck, 1985; FarreU & Dweck, 1985; Leggett, 1985, 1986), many have manipulated the salience and value of performance goals, and hence the relative value of the two types of goals. This has been done, for example, by instituting a competitive versus individual reward structure (e.g., Ames, 1984; Ames, Ames, & Felker, 1977), by varying the alleged diagnosticity of the task vis vis important abilities (e.g., Nicholls, 1975), by introducing an audience or evaluator versus allowing the individual to perform privately or focusing his or her attention on the task (e.g., Brockner & Hulton, 1978; Carver & Scheier, 1981; E. Diener & SruU, 1979), and by presenting the task with \"test\" instructions versus \"game\" or neutral instructions (e.g., Entin & Raynor, 1973; Lekarczyk & Hill, 1969; McCoy, 1965; Sarason, 1972). Taken together, the results suggest that highlighting performance goals relative to learning goals can have the following effects on achievement behavior. Goals and Task Choice Appropriately challenging tasks are often the ones that are best for utilizing and increasing one's abilities. Recent research has shown that performance goals work against the pursuit of challenge by requiring that children's perceptions of their ability be high (and remain high) before the children will desire a challenging task (M. Bandura & D

6,360 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, a framework for understanding how a sense of collective identity enters into the process of schooling and affects academic achievement is proposed, showing how the fear of being accused of "acting white" causes a social and psychological situation which diminishes black students' academic effort and thus leads to underachievement.
Abstract: The authors review their previous explanation of black students' underachievement. They now suggest the importance of considering black people's expressive responses to their historical status and experience in America. “Fictive kinship” is proposed as a framework for understanding how a sense of collective identity enters into the process of schooling and affects academic achievement. The authors support their argument with ethnographic data from a high school in Washington, D.C., showing how the fear of being accused of “acting white” causes a social and psychological situation which diminishes black students' academic effort and thus leads to underachievement. Policy and programmatic implications are discussed.

3,468 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the use of self-regulated learning strategies during class, homework, and study was investigated for l0th-grade students from a high achievement track and 40 from other (lower) achievement tracks of a suburban high school.
Abstract: Forty male and female l0th-grade students from a high achievement track and 40 from other (lower) achievement tracks of a suburban high school were interviewed concerning their use of self-regulated learning strategies during class, homework, and study. Fourteen categories of self-regulation strategies were identified from student answers that dealt with six learning contexts. High achieving students displayed significantly greater use of 13 categories of self-regulated learning. The students’ membership in their respective achievement group was predicted with 93% accuracy using their reports of self-regulated learning. When compared to students’ gender and socioeconomic status indices in regression analyses, self-regulated learning measures proved to be the best predictor of standardized achievement test scores. The results were discussed in terms of a social learning view of self-regulated learning.

1,801 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper presented a general statistical methodology for such hierarchically structured data and illustrates its use by reexamining the High School and Beyond data and the controversy over the effectiveness of public and Catholic schools.
Abstract: When researchers investigate how school policies, practices, or climates affect student outcomes, they use multilevel, hierarchical data. Though methodologists have consistently warned of the formidable inferential problems such data pose for traditional statistical methods, no comprehensive alternative analytic strategy has been available. This paper presents a general statistical methodology for such hierarchically structured data and illustrates its use by reexamining the High School and Beyond data and the controversy over the effectiveness of public and Catholic schools. The model enables the researcher to utilize mean achievement and certain structural parameters that characterize the equity in the social distribution of achievement as multivariate outcomes for each school. Variation in these school-level outcomes is then explained as a function of school characteristics.

883 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors explored the relation of self-efficacy beliefs to educational/vocational choice and performance, assessing the extent to which efficacy beliefs, in concert with other relevant variables, predict academic grades, persistence, and perceived career options in students considering science and engineering fields.
Abstract: This study explored the relation of self-efficacy beliefs to educational/vocational choice and performance, assessing the extent to which efficacy beliefs, in concert with other relevant variables, predict academic grades, persistence, and perceived career options in students considering science and engineering fields. Subjects were 105 undergraduates who participated in a career planning course on science and engineering fields. Hierarchical regression analyses indicated that self-efficacy contributed significant unique variance to the prediction of grades, persistence, and range of perceived career options in technical/scientific fields. The two self-efficacy scales used were moderately intercorrelated but differentially related to previous academic performance; neither scale was significantly related to general selfesteem or career indecision. Implications for further career self-efficacy research, and for career and academic counseling, are discussed.

849 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The basic form and purpose of self-regulated learning are described, and the contribution to this general formulation of each article in this special issue of Contemporary Educational Psychology is discussed as discussed by the authors.

832 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined empirical support for the internal/external (I/E) frame of reference model that describes the relation between Verbal and Math self-concepts, and between these academic selfconcepts and verbal and math achievement.
Abstract: The purpose of this investigation is to examine empirical support for the internal/external (I/E) frame of reference model that describes the relation between Verbal and Math self-concepts, and between these academic self-concepts and verbal and math achievement. The empirical tests are based on all studies (n = 6,010; age range = 7–35+ years) that have employed the Self Description Questionnaire (SDQ), SDQII, or SDQ III self-concept instruments. The I/E model posits, for example, that a high Math self-concept is more likely when math skills are good relative to those of peers (an external comparison) and when math skills are better than verbal skills (an internal comparison). Consistent with the model and empirical findings, (a) Verbal and Math self-concepts are nearly uncorrelated with each other even though verbal and math achievement indicators are substantially correlated with each other and with the matching areas of self-concept; (b) the direct effects of math achievement on Verbal self-concept, an...

793 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Depressive symptoms and explanatory styles were found to be quite stable over the year and explanatory style both correlated with concurrent levels of depression and school achievement and predicted later changes in depression during the year.
Abstract: In this longitudinal study, the depressive symptoms, life events, and explanatory styles of 168 school children were measured five times during the course of 1 year. Measures of school achievement were obtained once during the year. Depressive symptoms and explanatory styles were found to be quite stable over the year. As predicted by the reformulated learned helplessness theory, explanatory style both correlated with concurrent levels of depression and school achievement and predicted later changes in depression during the year. Depression also predicted later explanatory styles. The implications of these results for intervention with children with depressive symptoms or school achievement problems are discussed.

539 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors found that mothers with a college education are more likely to choose college-preparatory courses for their child, regardless of their child's academic performance, and that the implementation of strategies does vary by the socioeconomic status of the mother.
Abstract: The American educational system requires parents to manage their child's school career to maximize their child's school achievement. But parents differ in the specific strategies they select to help their children through school. These strategies are one way in which family background influences children's school achievement. We expand the extant model of how parents influence their children's school careers to encompass various pragmatic strategies devised for the crucial transition to high school. We analyze the responses of a small heterogeneous sample of mothers of eighth graders, who are beginning the transition from middle school to high school. The findings of this exploratory study indicate that parents actively manage their child's school career in ways that can have direct consequences for their child's educational achievement. The number and types of schooling strategies suggested by mothers do not vary among mothers, which indicates that there may be standard parental strategies. The implementation of strategies, however, does vary by the socioeconomic status of the mother, even when the child's academic performance is controlled. Mothers who have at least a college education know more about their child's school performance, have more contact with the teachers, and are more likely to take action to manage their child's academic achievement. We also find that mothers with a college education are more likely to choose college-preparatory courses for their child, regardless of their child's academic performance. We discuss how these findings contribute to our understanding of the process by which parents' socioeconomic status influences the child's academic achievement and educational attainment.

509 citations


Journal ArticleDOI

504 citations


Journal ArticleDOI
14 Feb 1986-Science
TL;DR: Cognitive abilities of children in the three countries are similar, but large differences exist in the children's life in school, the attitudes and beliefs of their mothers, and the involvement of both parents and children in schoolwork.
Abstract: American kindergarten children lag behind Japanese children in their understanding of mathematics; by fifth grade they are surpassed by both Japanese and Chinese children. Efforts to isolate bases for these differences involved testing children on other achievement and cognitive tasks, interviewing mothers and teachers, and observing children in their classrooms. Cognitive abilities of children in the three countries are similar, but large differences exist in the children's life in school, the attitudes and beliefs of their mothers, and the involvement of both parents and children in schoolwork.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: Cognitive tasks given prior to kindergarten and academic attitudes on the basis of teachers' and mothers' ratings of the children's general cognitive abilities and actual achievement showed effects of sex and academic content area.
Abstract: The purpose of the longitudinal study was to investigate the prediction of children's academic achievement on the basis of cognitive tasks given prior to kindergarten, and academic attitudes on the basis of teachers' and mothers' ratings of the children's general cognitive abilities and actual achievement. Subjects were tested initially before entering kindergarten; from 105 to 154 of the 255 kindergarten children were followed through grades 1, 2, 3, 5, and 10. A subset of cognitive tasks maintained a high relation to high school achievement scores, especially in reading. Tenth-grade self-concept of ability, expectancy for success, value of success, and perception of task difficulty showed effects of sex and academic content area, with boys generally being more favorable toward math and girls more favorable toward reading. Children's attitudes were related both to mothers' earlier ratings of their children's cognitive abilities and actual achievement scores; this was especially the case for girls. There was a negative relation between mothers' ratings and girls' attitudes toward mathematics. Sex differences in all measures throughout the 11-year period are reviewed.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The authors compared the effects of single-sex education at the secondary level, and found that the effect of single sex education at secondary level on the performance of women's colleges was minimal.
Abstract: A movement away from single-sex education occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, just as research was beginning to document positive effects of women's colleges. There has been very little investigation of single-sex education at the secondary level, however. In this study, we compared the effects of sing

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors discuss classwide peer tutoring as an effective instructional procedure and present a review of effectiveness data concerning classroom process (i.e., ecological and behavioral factors) and student achievement outcomes.
Abstract: The purpose of this article is to discuss classwide peer tutoring as an effective instructional procedure. The article is organized into three major sections: (a) general principles of instruction, (b) description of classwide peer tutoring procedures, and (c) review of effectiveness data concerning classroom process (i.e., ecological and behavioral factors) and student achievement outcomes. It concludes with a discussion of the procedure and areas of future research and application.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The High/Scope Preschool Curriculum study as discussed by the authors traces the effects on young people through age 15 of three well-implemented preschool curriculum models, i.e., the high/Scope model, the Distar model, and a model in the nursery school tradition.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the direct and indirect effects of TV time, homework, and parental involvement on high school seniors' achievement were investigated by using the massive High School and Beyond data set.
Abstract: The current concern over the state of American education highlights the need to understand the important influences on school learning, especially those influences that are potentially manipulable. Parental involvement in students' academic and social lives, time spent doing homework, and leisure TV viewing are three variables generally considered to influence academic achievement, variables that may also be interrelated. In the present study, the direct and indirect effects of TV time, homework, and parental involvement on high school seniors' achievement were investigated by using the massive High School and Beyond data set. As expected, homework had an important, positive effect on student achievement, and TV time had a smaller, negative effect. Parental involvement had no direct effect on seniors' achievement scores but did positively influence the amount of time that seniors spent on homework. Further analysis suggested the possibilities of low homework demands and of excessive weekday TV viewing. Given the time spent on TV and homework and their influence on achievement, we suggest that these variables be considered in the current push for educational improvement. There is much concern over the current state of American education. This latest round of interest in public schooling, although building for years, seems to have crystallized in the 1983 report of the National Commission on Excellence in Education. The commission's findings, although probably not surprising to those familiar with education, have perhaps never been spelled out so clearly for the general public. According to the report, about 13% of all 17-ycarolds in the United States today can be considered functionally illiterate; the average achievement on most standardized tests is now lower than 29 years ago, when Sputnik was launched; Scholastic Aptitude Test scores declined steadily from 1963 to 1980 (National Commission on Excellence in Education, 1983). Further, recent studies have suggested that American students' achievement is far surpassed by that of their foreign (especially Japanese) counterparts in mathematics and science (Stevenson, 1983; Walberg, 1984). It seems that learning, at least as measured by academic achievement, has suffered in American schools, a situation that seems more alarming considering that education may be America's largest enterprise (Walberg). Thus, the title of the commission's report—"A Nation at Risk"— seems quite appropriate. Despite current interest, such concerns with the products of schooling are neither new (cf. Silberman, 1970) nor confined to U.S. schools (cf. Marks, Cox, & Pomian-Srzednicki, 1983). Fortunately, the influences on school learning are becoming better understood (cf. Walberg, 1984), and many such

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the Satisfaction-Performance Relationship for College Students was investigated. But the authors focused on the satisfaction-performance relationship for college students and did not consider the performance of college students.
Abstract: (1986) Untangling the Satisfaction-Performance Relationship for College Students The Journal of Higher Education: Vol 57, No 4, pp 393-412

Journal ArticleDOI
Milton Chen1
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined gender differences in computer attitudes and experiences of adolescents and found that a sample of students from five Bay Area high schools were surveyed for their uses of computers before and after school.
Abstract: This study examines gender differences in computer attitudes and experiences of adolescents. A sample of students from five Bay Area high schools was surveyed for their uses of computers before and...

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, the effects of mother's employment and living in a one-parent family on children's achievement were investigated and the importance of model specification to the determination of effects was demonstrated.
Abstract: This paper presents new research on the effects of mother's employment and living in a one-parent family on children's achievement. We take advantage of two nationally representative data bases of students from two age groups and demonstrate the importance of model specification to the determination of effects. Results show that mother's employment and living in a one-parent family can have negative effects on school achievement but that these effects differ by age, race, and family structure. The results also demonstrate the importance of mediating variables such as income and time use.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the influence of students' background and perceptions on science attitude and achievement was investigated using the LISREL IV computer program, and two different models were tested: a model in which attitudes influence achievement and its converse (achievement influences attitudes).
Abstract: The purpose of the study was to investigate the influence of students' background and perceptions on science attitude and achievement. The data analysed came from Booklet 4 given to 17-year-olds during the 1976–1977 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) survey. Causal modeling procedures were used to analyze the data. In particular, the LISREL method which underlies the LISREL IV computer program, (Joreskog and Sorbom, 1978) was employed. The influence of five background variables (sex, race, home environment, amount of homework, and parents' education) on three dependent variables (student perception of science instruction, student attitudes, and student achievement) was examined. Sex, race, and the home environment were shown to have substantial influence on student achievement in science. Further, two different models were tested: a model in which attitudes influence achievement and its converse (achievement influences attitudes). The data supported the first model, that is, attitudes influence achievement.


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The effects of computer-assisted cooperative, competitive, and individualistic instruction were compared on achievement, student-student interaction, and attitudes as mentioned in this paper, finding that computer assisted cooperative instruction promoted greater quantity and quality of daily achievement, more successful problem solving, more task-related studentstudent interaction and increased the perceived status of female students.
Abstract: The effects of computer-assisted cooperative, competitive, and individualistic instruction were compared on achievement, student-student interaction, and attitudes. Seventy-four eighth-grade students were randomly assigned to conditions, stratifying for sex and ability. Computer-assisted cooperative instruction promoted greater quantity and quality of daily achievement, more successful problem solving, more task-related student-student interaction, and increased the perceived status of female students.


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this article, the authors report statistical analysis of the determinants of average student performance on standardized examinations, and also the determinant of the extent to which students fail such examinations.

Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: In this paper, two types of mechanisms are considered: technical conditions of differentially allocated instruction and institutional processes operating through symbolically defined categories, and they are both large and stable.
Abstract: This paper attempts to uncover the mechanisms through which stratification in schools differentiates student achievement. Two types of mechanisms are considered: (1) technical conditions of differentially allocated instruction, and (2) institutional processes operating through symbolically defined categories. Using data from twelve first-grade classrooms, I isolated the instructional effects and found that they are both large and stable. Institutional processes account at most for a small grouping effect, which occurs early in the year but fades as the year progresses.



Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: The academic achievement scores of 122 children with epilepsy were examined in relation to demographic and clinical seizure variables, and the strongest correlates of academic performance were age of the child, age of seizure onset, lifetime total seizure frequency, and presence of multiple seizures.
Abstract: The academic achievement scores of 122 children with epilepsy were examined in relation to demographic and clinical seizure variables. As a group, these children were making less academic progress than expected for their age and IQ level. Academic deficiencies were greatest in arithmetic, followed by spelling, reading, comprehension, and word recognition. Results of the multiple regression analyses indicated a modest combined predictive significance of the demographic and clinical seizure variables for academic performance. In addition, the magnitude of these relationships varied by academic area. Among the individual variables examined the strongest correlates of academic performance were age of the child, age of seizure onset, lifetime total seizure frequency, and presence of multiple seizures (absence and tonic-clonic). These results are discussed in relation to developing an understanding of the factors which underlie academic vulnerability in children with epilepsy.


Journal ArticleDOI
TL;DR: This paper used a sample of 12,146 students from 20 public high schools to estimate the effects of teachers, parents, and peers' standards on student effort and achievement while controlling for the effect of student background factors.
Abstract: Recent reports on the state of American schools have focused on the standards for student performance. Using a sample of 12,146 students from 20 public high schools, we estimate the effects of teachers', parents', and peers' standards on student effort and achievement while controlling for the effects of student background factors. Teachers', parents', and peers' standards each have a positive and significant effect on the time students spend on homework. The effects of performance standards on achievement are mixed. Teachers' and peers' standards have small positive effects, and parents' standards have larger negative effects. We offer interpretations of this pattern and suggestions for testing these interpretations in future studies.