Effects of Motivational Interventions on the National Assessment of Educational Progress Mathematics Performance

Abstract

One of the reasons often cited h r the low average level of proficiency demonstrated by U.S. students on national and international assessments is that there are no consequences or stakes attached to performance on the tests and, therefore, students are not motivated to invest their best effort. In this study, money was chosen as an incentive, but we hoped that short written instructions would be almost as powerful as money and easier and more desirable to implement in the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP). Our results indicate that, at least for Grade 8 participants, student effort can be increased by financial rewards offered at the time of test taking, and that such effort can result in an increase in NAEP math test scores. Thus, from a policy perspective, scores from low-stakes tests may not represent what the student knows. Rather, such scores represent what students will demonstrate with minimal effort