This study demonstrates the relationship between student values and commitment in the environment of California community college World Wide Web-based instruction. It provides evidence that student motivation can be ascertained in the first week of class and is a strong indicator of "at risk" status and later dropout. A recent model of motivation has suggested that task values have an influence on student choice behaviors. Correlations obtained in this study demonstrate that students who have high task choice values may be expected to persist in a class. Gender, ethnicity, subject, level of prior English classes, or ESL (English as a Second Language), did not influence persistence in the class. It was found that students with low task values, low prior grades in English, and older students (over 28 years) may be more likely to drop out of a class that is completely Web-based, and that this can be reliably measured. (Contains 19 references.) (Author/MES)