Geography Achievement and Opportunity to Learn: A Focus on the Attitudes of Teachers and Students

Abstract

Student and teacher attitudes toward school subjects are associated with varying levels of achievement in those subjects. This study analyzed data from the 2018 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) to explore relationships between geography achievement in 8th grade, student attitudes toward geography, and teacher attitudes about their students and profession. There is a significant and positive relationship between geography achievement and attitudes, including a teacher’s job satisfaction and how students perceive the value of geography for understanding the world. However, the significance of these relationships varies for different groups of students.

Keywords:

• Assessment
• secondary geography education
• affective disposition
• geography education

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Michael Solem and Yusik Choi for their invaluable assistance with the NAEP Data Explorer and for providing helpful comments on an earlier draft of this manuscript.