Achievement assessment has recently become an issue of major public concern. Concurrent with demands which have placed increased reliance on measurement and assessment have been criticisms of present testing practices. The effects of sociocultural and motivation variables on achievement patterns of 7,000 Illinois school children were investigated. Achievement, conceptualized as the students' sense of competence (evaluation anxiety and achievement attributions) and motivation goals, was assessed through the use of standardized testing instruments. Results indicated that: (1) sociocultural background directly affects motivation and performance; (2) motivational effects serve to reinforce or enhance the effects of sociocultural background on performance; and (3) both objective performance and the interpretation of that performance affect motivation. (Author/HLM)