Factors influencing student achievement in advanced placement and honors

Restricted until 12 June 2010.The purpose of this study was to determine why some academically able students self-selecting to enroll in academically rigorous courses were underachieving. Participants in the study were 169 eleventh and twelfth grade (74 male and 95 female) students attending Torrance West High School and enrolled in: English 1 Honor; English 2 Honors; English 3 Honors; English 4 AP: English Literature AP, Geometry Honors; Algebra 2 Honors; or Pre-Calculus Honors. Participants independently completed a 45-item questionnaire measuring their cognitions (self-efficacy, motivation and self-regulation, goal valuation), their behaviors (attitudes towards teachers and classes, attitudes towards school), and their environment (parental expectations).; Results from the study support current research regarding the motivational and behavioral factors impacting academic achievement. Comparisons of under achieving students (receiving a final grade of C or lower) and high achieving students (those receiving a final grade of A or B) revealed that the two subgroups differed significantly in their self-efficacy, goal valuation and motivation and self-regulation, attitudes towards their school, their teachers, and their classes. Pearson correlations coefficients found significant correlations among all cognitive and behavioral variables, and hierarchical multiple regression analyses were conducted and self-efficacy and goal valuation were the only variables found to be related to students final grade. Self-efficacy contributed 12.3% of the variance of students ' final grades, while goal valuation contributed 4.3% of the variance of students' final grades. These variables contributed a total of 16.7% of the variance. These results suggest that students ' cognitive processes positively mediate their academic performance, which, in turn is strongly related to their final grades in advanced placement and honors courses