This study examined the effect of goal-setting on the achievement and attitudes of 108 boys and girls from grades 1-4. Pupils in Group I participated in four goal-setting conferences with the experimenter. Pupils in Group II also had conferences but class study topics were discussed and students did not set goals. Group III was a control group receiving only classroom instruction in reading skills. Two attitude measures were administered to all pupils along with an experimenter-developed and a criterion-referenced achievement test. The experimental design was a 3x3x2 randomized block design with three treatments, three levels of previous achievement, and two sexes. Findings indicate that the use of an individual goal-setting conference can improve the classroom motivation of pupils. The confounding of other factors makes present findings tentative. Suggestions for future research include beginning with a more precise delineation of the attributes of goal-setting. (WY)

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