Study of Life Transitions (MSALT), 1983 - 1985

The purpose of this study was to investigate the impact of changes in classroom and family environments on adolescents' achievement-related beliefs, motives, values, and behaviors. A sample of sixth graders, their teachers, and their parents were drawn from 12 public school districts located in middle-income communities in southeastern Michigan; it included approximately 3,248 adolescents; 95% of the teachers (representing 143 classrooms), and 72% of the parents asked to participate. School districts were selected where the adolescents would experience the traditional junior high school transition as they moved from the sixth to the seventh grade. During the first two years of this study, adolescents filled out extensive questionnaires in their math classrooms two times in the sixth grade and two times in the seventh grade. During the same testing periods, teachers and parents completed their own questionnaires. The student questionnaires contained indicators of a wide range of environmental characteristics and achievement-related motivational construct's, and assessed a broad range of students' beliefs, values, and attitudes concerning mathematics, English, physical skills, social activities, and other constructs. There were also items eliciting information about students' perceptions of their teacher's fairness and friendliness, competition and social comparison among students, the opportunity for comparative learning among students, and their teacher's interest in mathematics. The teachers completed individual assessments of each of their students, and completed questionnaires that assessed their general beliefs about students and their classroom practices. The parents completed questionnaires concerning their own beliefs about mathematics, family decision-making and other topics, and their perception of their children. Classroom observations of more macro-level instructional processes were also completed. Most of the items were answered on Likert scales. The Murray Center holds computer-accessible data for waves 1 - 8 of this study