Dominant Achievement Goals and Academic Outcomes across Tracks in High School

The self-reported grades Dutch, English and math of 13,970 students in the third grade of Dutch secondary education (US grade 9) were investigated with regard to educational track-level and dominant achievement goal (DAG). The performance approach goal group scored significantly higher on all three subjects than the performance avoidance group, the mastery approach group, the mastery avoidance group and the group without a DAG. In addition, the differences between the performance approach group and the other groups with regard to the three school subjects were of the same size, suggesting that the DAG is associated with the same processes across various school subjects. The magnitude of the differences with the other DAG groups, however, decreased with decreasing track level, suggesting that the DAGs’ adaptive value varies systematically with ability level.