TEACHER PREFERENCES FOR MASTERY-ORIENTED STUDENTS

The relationship between college students' goal orientations and teach ers' subjective ratings of students was examined. Mastery (concern wit h improving competence) and performance (concern with proving competen ce to others) goals were distinguished according to Dweck and Leggett' s (1988) theory. The authors predicted that the teachers would give mo re favorable ratings to high-mastery students than to low-mastery stud ents on 12 separate dimensions, including likelihood of being a succes sful teacher. The relationship among goals, critical thinking skills, and final course grades was also examined. The results showed a strong relationship between mastery goals and teacher ratings, but no relati onship among goals, grades, and an objective measure of critical think ing. Implications for future research are discussed.