Reports on two treatment studies of special education students markedly helpless with regard to arithmetic: one comparing attribution retraining treatment to control treatment matched to it in schedule of successes and failures; the other comparing effects of three success-failure schedules on attributions and persistence. (Author/NRB)

Administered the Locus of Control Scale for Teachers to 13 middle school teachers and the Origin-Climate Questionnaire to 78 of their students. Results indicated a moderate relationship between teachers' locus of control and students' perception of classroom climate, suggesting teachers' locus of control has a causal impact. (JAC)

Attributional style and academic persistence were assessed in 72 fifth graders. Findings revealed that attributional style predicted teacher-rated persistence but did not predict any of the behavioral persistence measures. Results suggest that students' self-reported attributional styles are related to teacher judgments of persistence. (Author/NB)

Discusses the role of extrinsic reinforcement in intrinsic motivation in cognitive attribution theory. Concludes that cognitive attribution theory lacks parsimony, in that extant reinforcement analysis can account for undermining with equal facility. Suggests undermining is of little significance due to its elusive and transient impact on operant…