This document sketches topics considered by a 1990 conference on student motivation sponsored by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement of the U.S. Department of Education. Educational reforms of the past decade have not produced higher test scores for American students. Rather, American students score lower and study less than students in other developed countries. A number of disincentives to student effort are prevalent. These include: (1) the large number of nonacademic activities which students are encouraged to pursue, and which compete for their time; (2) public policies that reward students for making minimal efforts, a condition exemplified by the fact that, as graduation rates have risen over the past 25 years, academic achievement scores have gone down; (3) ambivalent messages sent by schools when athletes are given privileged status, and peers pressure against academic achievement; and (4) classroom practices by teachers who, although well-intentioned, give students unchallenging work, or convey to students their low expectations. Several strategies to increase student effort are suggested. Appendixes include summaries of conference papers on the role of student effort in Japanese schools; the use of compensatory practices in American schools, such as giving out test answers before a test; and students' interpretations of teachers' behavior and attitudes. (BC)