The relationship between scores on the motivation to read profile and selected sections of the New Jersey Early Warning Test

This study investigated the role motivation plays in reading achievement in middle school students. Two important motivational constructs that mediate achievement behavior, self-concept as a reader and value placed on the reading task, were assessed using the Motivation to Read Profile (MRP) (Gambrel, Palmer, Codling, & Mazzoni, 1996). By correlating the MRP with student responses on the reading section of the state mandated New Jersey Grade 8 Early Warning Test (EWT), this study investigated the relationship among students' perceptions of their reading ability, the value they place on the reading act, and their performance on a test of reading achievement. Additionally, the study assessed the validity of the MRP as an important diagnostic tool for identifying students who are at risk of performing poorly on the EWT. Subjects included all eighth grade students in a suburban New Jersey School District eligible to take the EWT in March of the 1997--98 school year.;Multivariate correlation techniques were used to investigate how well the MRP and certain demographic and academic variables, such as California Achievement Test scores, gender and special education classification, predicted student performance on the Grade 8 Early Warning Test.;The results of this investigation indicate that while there is a correlation between the MRP and EWT scores, the MRP is not a strong predictor of student performance. However, student responses to questions in the Conversational Interview portion of the MRP provided important information into the complex relationship among prune factors that effect reading behaviors and perceptions in middle school students. These qualitative results offer additional information for reading specialists who diagnose reading disabilities and for classroom teachers who are also responsible for planning instruction and preparing grade eight students for the EWT.