The purposes of this mixed method study were to examine the relationship between student motivation and performance on large-scale, low- and high-stakes examinations and identify the types of incentive programs used by principals to promote test performance among high school students. The study took take place in California's Southern San Joaquin…

California and many other states require students to pass an exit examination as a high school graduation requirement. Coupled with the exit examination requirement is school accountability to the state and the federal government. Despite academic interventions, many students continue to fail the exit examination resulting in not earning a…

Beginning in 2003, there will be no standardized or norm-referenced test in history-social science for California students. That test is being replaced by assessments at grades 8, 10, and 11 based on California History-Social Science (H-SS) Content Standards. The H-SS standards tests at grades 10 and 11 count for 20% of the Academic Performance…