Self-perceptions, classroom environment, and students' reported help-seeking behaviors

Students' reported help seeking behaviors and preferences were related to mathematics achievement and perceptions of self and classroom environment. Approximately 20,000 sixth grade Chicago public school students participated in a survey conducted by the Consortium on Chicago School Research. The sample of students identified for this research consisted of those randomly selected to respond to the portion of the survey referring only to their mathematics' class and those also completing all help seeking related items and whose teacher did not change prior to survey administration (N = 2206). Major findings were tested for replication on a cross-validation sample (N = 2265). Reported fear of a negative reaction to help seeking from the teacher was negatively associated with mathematics achievement while the comfort of seeking help from a student revealed positive associations. Students who preferred scaffold-oriented helping strategies had higher mathematics achievement scores. Relationships among students' fear of seeking help, comfort seeking help, frequencies of seeking help, and perceptions of self and classroom environment are discussed as well.