Abstract:
This research paper presents existing literature on intrinsic motivation and applies it to teachers in an environment of high-stakes education reform efforts. It seeks to acknowledge that there has been an increase in level of external control placed on teachers in New York State, and to discuss potential impacts of these efforts on teachers' intrinsic motivation according to Self-Determination Theory (SDT). This paper presents survey research designed to examine teachers' perception of the impact education reform efforts have had on their role in various work tasks, related to the extent to which they perceive their needs for autonomy, competence, and relatedness are met at work. Confirmatory factor analysis and structural equation modeling was used to examine the relationships between participant responses and the theoretical variables at hand. T-tests, ANOVA, and Pearson's correlations were also examined to obtain a greater understanding of the variable relationships. The results of this research indicate that teachers have felt a negative impact on some of their teaching-related tasks; the SDT framework of autonomy, relatedness, and competence needs maintained integrity in this sample; autonomy-support was significantly related to perceived impact of high stakes education reform efforts. The implications of low intrinsic motivation among teachers on students and the educational environment, and implications for future reform efforts are discussed.
Description:
Dissertation completed in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Doctor of Psychology degree in School Psychology at Alfred University, Alfred, NY.
