2016

Increasing Levels of Motivation in Today’s School Systems

Educational pyschology

DIANA LAWRENCE

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Currently, the topics for educational reform include reducing drop-out rates, increasing

preparation, and closing the achievement gap. Students seem to think the leading problems in

schools today involve boring and meaningless curriculum. Teachers identify the main issues

facing school systems as; the pressures of teaching associated with high-stakes testing,

assessment, compromised attention spans and a lack of motivation. There are many problems

that face the education system today; few are things that can be easily changed. The lack of

motivation is an issue in which many other problems stem from. As educators, our ultimate

goal is to help students learn; to motivate students and raise self-efficacy thereby obtaining

mastery goal orientation. The primary purpose of this essay is to analyze the lack of motivation

found in schools today and provide obtainable solutions. This will be accomplished by: defining

motivation and self-efficacy, linking motivation to more pervasive educational problems,

providing supportive data and current insight, and presenting achievable solutions.

What is motivation? Psychologists define motivation as an intentional process that

activates, guides, and maintains behavior over time (Slavin, 2005). Motivation directly impacts

learning and overall performance. In order to build capacity in a child; the child must have a

strong foundation. What are some foundational tools that will help a child succeed? In order to

learn a student must first have the desire. Association must be made in order for a student to

answer the “why” in learning. If a student can’t relate a lesson to the purpose of learning, he or

she simply will not be motivated. A child needs someone to guide or facilitate learning; a

teacher. They need a learning environment that provides effective evidence-based instruction.

Problem areas such as “teaching to the test” and poor methods of assessment do not

contribute to the area of effective instruction. Boring and meaningless curriculum are often the

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result of poor lesson planning and pressures associated with the accountability imposed on

teachers from programs that need revamping like; No Child Left Behind. Teachers tend to

blame their students for lack of motivation when they do not achieve, yet teachers have an

extraordinary impact on their student’s motivation. Success stories of students overcoming the

odds and achieving are generally linked to an outstanding teacher. Passionate and encouraging

attitudes modeled by teachers often sets the tone for learning. Educator Frank Pajares suggests

that how well a student motivates himself or herself and preservers in the face of adversities

relates directly to their vulnerability to stress and depression and the life choices they make

(Pajares, 2009). Therefore, the lack motivation can be clearly linked to unprepared students,

achievement gaps and high drop-out rates. If we took things a step further, low levels of

motivation could also be linked to unemployment, crime, and suicide. Conjointly, self-efficacy

can be thought of as a tier or level to which a student is motivated to learn. Self-efficacy is a

theory that often expounds upon the topic of motivation in the field of education. According to

the social cognitive theory, self-efficacy beliefs provide the foundation for human motivation,

well-being, and personal accomplishment: unless people believe that their actions can produce

the outcomes they desire, they have little incentive to act or persevere in the face of difficulties

(Pajares, 2009). People with a strong sense of personal competence approach difficult tasks as

challenges to be mastered rather than threats to be avoided (Pajares, 2009). Therefore, there is

a need to build self-efficacy beliefs for students.

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The necessity for education reform lies in the issues currently faced by our teachers, the

political debates, and the everyday headlines. After interviewing several current teachers,

concerns were introduced about the general lack of desire found in many students. One

teacher privately confessed that after offering a student additional help with a project, the

student responded by saying, “no, it’s good enough.” Teachers feel that students lack

motivation. Current teacher Ms. Smith said she felt that kids struggle to do the hard work of

learning sometimes because of their diminished attention spans. As an English teacher Ms.

Smith found that her students suffered in the areas of reading, writing, and conversation. She

attributed compromised attention spans to the overuse of technology. Further stating that

technology has made kids more “instant” and less motivated (Smith, 2016). NEA today,

High self-efficacy

high confidence in self

try harder

recover more quickly from setbacks

feelings of personal well-being

willingness to experiment

higher expectations for future

Low self-efficacy

low confidence in self

low effort under difficult situations

learned helplessness

feelings of stress

low acheivement levels

more likely to drop-out

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additionally supports this claim by adding that a student’s love of technology also tends to

distract him from his schoolwork (Chen, 2016). Teachers find it can be difficult to keep students’

interest and attention while attempting to properly teach new concepts. Additional areas of

concern for current teachers fall within the category of evaluation. There is an overwhelming

demand put on teachers associated with achievement levels. This demand began with the No

Child Left Behind Act in the attempt to set high standards and close the achievement gap. Many

teachers found themselves forced to “teach to the test” in fear of punishment. This topic came

up several times during various interviews. Both teachers and students feel that the creativity,

and the overall effectiveness of lesson plans have suffered due to this attempt in education

reform, impacting levels of motivation all around the board. This topic is further reinforced as

educator Cindy Donaldson aspires to answer the question of why America’s students are falling

behind, suggests that our schools are outdated. She states that in a world that runs on

innovation and curiosity, our schools still teach to standardized test. They emphasize

memorization and compliance in an era where data is only a smart phone away, and today’s

cutting edge is tomorrow’s ancient history (Donaldson, 2010). Further expanding on this idea;

current teachers have expressed concern about assessment and grading and how students and

parents react to grades. Too often students view grades as a representation of their aptitude,

ability, or even self-worth rather than the quality of their investment (Shindler, 2008). Parents

tend to react poorly when their children receive low grades, often blaming the teacher for the

outcome.

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Prevailing headlines and political debates further emphasize the need for increased

student motivation. In October of 2016, President Obama delivered remarks on education. He

said the best jobs are going to the best educated. He said our schools were the leaders in

education, but the world caught up. President Obama reviewed the need to continue to

improve on higher graduation rates and greater college attendance.

He declared that too many states had not raised standards and improved performance. Some

school districts are still not fully preparing their students. In some schools one third of students

do not earn their diplomas on time. He went on to say that in 2020 two out of three job

openings will require some sort of higher education. In order to succeed in the market place

students must have more sophisticated reasoning, they must be able to think creatively, and

work within a team. He concluded by stating that we must continue to close the achievement

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gap, to fix the No Child Left Behind Act, and we must improve the quality of teaching (Obama,

2016). If our goal as educators is to prepare students to become successful, contributing

members of society, they must have attributes that are desirable in the present-day workforce.

According to Mike Summers of Dell Computers, kids have an amazing lack of preparedness in

general leadership skills and collaborative skills (Donaldson, 2010).

What is the common denominator for all of these present-day concerns? Motivation:

Current literature indicates that both students and teachers can have an impact on

achievement and success. Motivation is something that can be transformed. A tremendous

volume of research and data has been published suggesting effective strategies for increasing

student motivation. As with many concepts involving learning, no one theory will suffice, but a

review of all theories and their interrelatedness will be able to offer improvement into the

teaching/learning process (Slavin, 2005).

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First and foremost, a student must find a lesson interesting. On the grounds that most

students do not find interest in all topics, incentives and enabling student control is important.

The best type of incentive is related to intrinsic motivation. Intrinsic motivation has to do with

the personal desire or sense of relevance a student finds in a particular subject. In contrast,

extrinsic motivation is related to things such as rewards or grades. Several educators presented

a concern about how students and parents interpret grades. Grades have only symbolic

meaning, not inherent value (Shindler, 2008). Therefore, in practice, grades become more

effective when they are clearly related to a meaningful outcome. It is important to incorporate

authentic measures of assessment like feedback and rubrics that will be more motivational than

the total number of correct responses (Shindler, 2008). Feedback should be both explanatory

and timely. Furthermore, it is suggested that grades and rankings should be deemphasized, and

focus should be based off of effort versus ability. To do this it is suggested that educators use

individualized instruction, progress at the student’s own level, and include efforts as a

component of grading (Slavin, 2005). Some of the biggest detriments to the testing and

assessing of a student are the potential for the child to fall into a cycle of learned helplessness.

Learned helplessness is when a student fails repetitively, falling into a cycle in which he or she

eventually gives up. To help a child overcome learned helplessness Slavin suggests to

accentuate the student’s strengths, set short-term goals, and link lessons to the students’ own

experiences (Slavin, 2005). Additional extrinsic motivational factors such as rewards should also

be used sparingly and carefully. While writing his text book: Transformative Classroom

Management, educator John Shindler suggests that giving students extrinsic rewards for

engaging in learning tasks make’s the implicit statement that the activity was not worth doing

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on its own merits (Shindler, 2008). While this is a strong position to hold, many professionals

suggest that the use of continuous reinforcement leads to gradual decrease of motivation

(Shindler, 2008). Instead, focusing on creating meaningful lessons that students can relate to

actual life is optimal. Lydia Dobyns President and CEO of New Tech Network suggest that

students are most successful when what they are learning is real, relevant, engaging and

prepares them for the life they are living now and will face after high school (Dobyns, 2013).

Giving student control means the teacher steps back into the position of a facilitator.

Professionals suggest that teachers should resist telling students the answers. Instead, they

should help the student find ways to analyze the problem and develop solutions (Donaldson,

2010). This process allows the student to gain critical thinking and problem-solving skills that

future employers highly regard. Giving students a selection of assignments based on their

interests, or allowing them to approach a task with a method of choice also provides the

student with personal control. The concept of a teacher as a facilitator encourages the use of

collaboration and cooperation, especially with peer tutoring and group projects. Cooperation is

one of the best ways to promote a mastery goal orientation (Top 20 Principles from Psychology

for PreK-12 Teaching and Learning, 2015). In addition, students will learn the leadership skills

that are highly sought out by employers by working within a group. Furthermore, the concept

of enabling student control includes setting expectations and goals. Teachers’ expectations for

their students affect students’ opportunities to learn, their motivation, and their educational

outcomes. It is best for teachers to communicate high expectations to all students and maintain

appropriately elevated standards for everyone in order to avoid negative self-fulfilling

prophecies (Top 20 Principles from Psychology for PreK-12 Teaching and Learning, 2015). This is

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especially true for students who belong to minority groups or have disabilities. The last focus

area for motivational strategies has to do with modeled behavior. When teachers model

flexibility, organization, and enthusiasm it increases student motivation. This contagious

enthusiasm and high level of flexibility assist teachers who have a hard time keeping the

students’ attention and encourages creativity in a high paced technologically advanced world.

When lessons are greatly personalized, and students are offered variety, interaction becomes

emphasized and children tend to have greater focus and are generally more motivated.

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After deeply exploring the issues our education system faces today it is apparent that

motivation is a fundamental building block to establishing a student’s full potential. There are

many issues the education system faces currently that don’t have valid solutions. Nevertheless,

rigorous research provides effective strategies for increasing motivation in the school system.

Teachers can directly influence how quickly attitudes and values change and how rapidly

schools can be restructured to increase student achievement. The greatest goal in achieving

motivation is to find out what a child is curious about, encourage him to pursue it, guide him,

and build his curiosity and imagination. This can be done by providing the child with challenging

tasks and meaningful activities that can be mastered, and guiding these efforts with the

appropriate levels of support and encouragement with the end goal of developing self-efficacy.

In a rapidly changing world, students have to be flexible, adaptable, and lifelong learners. Let’s

make an explicit aspiration to create a generation of innovative learners who can think critically,

collaborate well, communicate with others and be creative (Dobyns, 2013). We must remain

committed to the goal of increasing preparation, closing the achievement goal, and reducing

dropout rates through the use of motivational strategies

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ReferencesDobyns, L. (2013, April 28). Countdown: Top 10 Education Issues I'm following in 2013. Retrieved from

Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lydia-dobyns/top-10education-issues_b_2726942.html

Donaldson, C. (2010, January 15). The Global Achievement Gap: Why America's Students are Falling Behind. Retrieved from Education.com: http://www.education.com/magazine/article/global-achievement-gap/

MacMeekin, M. (2015, May 27). 27 Intrinsic Motivation Ideas. Retrieved from The Better Plan: https://thebetterplan.org/2015/05/27/27-intrinsic-motivation-ideas/

Obama, B. (2016, October 17). President Obama Delivers Remarks on Education. Retrieved from The White House: https://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2016/10/17/president-obama-delivers-remarks-education

Pajares, F. (2009, December 23). Motivational Consequences of Self-Efficacy Beliefs and Academic Attainments Implications for Teachers and Schools. Retrieved from Education: http://www.education.com/reference/article/self-efficacy-theory/

Riggs, L. (2016, November 17). Problems facing School Systems Today. (D. Lawrence, Interviewer)

Shindler, J. (2008). Transformative Classroom Management. Boston: Allyn Bacon Publishers. Retrieved from calstatela: http:

Slavin, R. E. (2005). Educational Psychology: Theory and Practice. Baltimore: Pearson.

Smith, E. (2016, November 20). Problems Facing the Education System Today. (D. Lawrence, Interviewer)

Top 20 Principles from Psychology for PreK-12 Teaching and Learning. (2015). Retrieved from American Psychological Association: http://www.apa.org/ed/schools/cpsc/top-twenty-principles.pdf