Decades of reserach indicate the important connections among academic motivation and achievement, social relationships, and school culture. However, much of this research has been conducted in homogenous American schools serving middle class, average achieving, Anglo-student populations. This edited volume will argue that school culture is a reflection of the society in which the school is embedded and comprises various aspects, including induvidualism, competition, cultural stereotypes, and extrinsically guided values and rewards. They address three specific conceptual questions: How do differences in academic motivation for diverse groups of students change over time? How do students' social cognitions influence their motivational processes and outcomes in school? And what has been done to enhance academic motivation? To answer this last question, the contributers describe empirically validated intervention programs for improving academic motivation in students from elementary school through college.

1. Introduction
2. Competence Motivation in Head Start: An Early Childhood Link to Learning
3. Low academic intrinsic motivation as a risk factor for adverse educational outcomes: A longitudinal study from early childhood through early adulthood
4. Essential Solidarities for Understanding Latino Adolescents' Moral and Academic Engagement
5. Sources of influence on the college goals, sexual behavior, and childbearing attitdes of Latina girls in alternative high schools
6. Cultural Continuity between Home and School as a Predictor of Student Motivation: What We Know, What We Need to Learn, and Implications for Practice
7. Cultural Mistrust, Academic Outcome Expectations, and Outcome Values Among African American Adolescent Males
8. Responding to self-threats: Understanding stigma in the academic domain
9. Cultures in contrast: Understanding the influence of school culture on student engagement
10. Scholar Identity and Academic Achievement in African American Adolescents: Is there a connection?
11. Peer Assisted Learning: An Academic Strategy for Enhancing Motivation Among Diverse Students
12. Academic Motivation and the Culture of School
13. Social Competence, Socio-Cultural Contexts, and School Success: A Commentary