Authors evaluated the Student Behavior Checklist-Brief (SBC-B) to test whether teacher-reports of student learning approach (i.e., learned helplessness [LH] and mastery orientation [MO]) were invariant across academic subjects. The current sample includes ethnically diverse seventh and eighth grade students (N = 145; 53 percent male) and six teams…

Measurement limitations have hindered research on learned helplessness (LH) and mastery orientation (MO) in the classroom. We reduced the 24-item Student Behavior Checklist to a 6-item scale and tested the abbreviated measure for evidence of reliability and validity in a sample of 5th and 6th graders (N = 299). We then replicated findings in an…

It is well known that teachers frequently observe a decline in the scholastic motivation of many adolescent students, which in turn is often associated with a decline in students' individual school self-concept. In contrast, less is known about the association between students' individual school self-concept and school engagement, or the related…