Patterns of Adaptive Learning Scales (PALS)

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Instrument Overview

Expert Notes AvailableView expert commentary on strengths and cautions for this instrument
Strengths

Widely used in educational psychology research across grade levels. Enables analysis of both individual student and classroom-level influences.

Cautions

Primarily optimized for research purposes and less actionable for immediate, front-line use. Some subscales show varying reliability across populations and contexts.

The Patterns of Adaptive Learning Scales (PALS) consists of self-report scales to examine the relation between the learning environment and students’ motivation, affect, and behavior using goal orientation theory. Student scales assess 1) personal achievement goal orientations; 2) perceptions of teacher’s goals; 3) perceptions of the goal structures in the classroom; 4) achievement-related beliefs, attitudes, and strategies; and 5) perceptions of parents and home life.

Organization

Topic
Pathways to and Through Postsecondary
Collection(s): AIR Student Well-Being, College Readiness and Success
Collection Category(ies)
Family, Home, Community, or Neighborhood,
Student Academic Dispositions and Learning Strategies,
Learning Strategies

American Institutes for Research® partnered with the Annenberg Institute at Brown University to collect instruments related to student well-being.

Tags
College readiness,
Motivation,
Social and emotional learning

Content

Grades
Kindergarten,
1st Grade,
2nd Grade,
3rd Grade,
4th Grade,
5th Grade,
6th Grade,
7th Grade,
8th Grade,
9th Grade,
10th Grade,
11th Grade,
12th Grade,
Post secondary
Keywords
Student Well-Being ; Social-Emotional Competence ; Self Management ; Social Awareness ; Learning environments ; Achievement beliefs
Languages
English
Respondent
Student,
Teacher

Administration Information

Length
40 minutes, 94 items in the entire instrument battery
Administration
Paper

Access and Use

Contact

Eric Anderman

anderman.1@osu.edu (614) 292-9860

Link
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/272474856_The_Patterns_of_Adaptive_Lea…
Open Access
Yes
Setting
Undefined

Psychometrics (additional guidance)

Psychometric References

Hackel, T. S., Jones, M. H., Carbonneau, K. J., & Mueller, C. E. (2016). Re-examining achievement goal instrumentation: Convergent validity of AGQ and PALS. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 46, 73-80. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2016.04.005

Ross, M. E., Shannon, D. M., Salisbury-Glennon, J. D., & Guarino, A. (2002). The patterns of adaptive learning survey: A comparison across grade levels. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 62(3), 483-497. https://doi.org/10.1177/00164402062003006

Ross, M. E., Blackburn, M., & Forbes, S. (2005). Reliability generalization of the patterns of adaptive learning survey goal orientation scales. Educational and Psychological Measurement, 65(3), 451-464. https://doi.org/10.1177/0013164404272496