Dr. Martin V. Covington from the Department of Psychology, University of California at Berkeley, delivered this talk that sort of sums up his career in developing self-worth theory and how that relates to motivation in education.

Covington is the author of Making the Grade: A Self-Worth Perspective on Motivation and School Reform and The Will to Learn: A Guide for Motivating Young People.

This 31-page paper, Goal Theory, Motivation, and School Achievement: An Integrative Review, from the Annual Review of Psychology (2000; 51:171–200), offers a much more in-depth look at his work.

Self-Worth Theory: The Vital, Throbbing Center of Achievement Motivation

Professor Covington will share highlights of his teaching and research career by addressing the question: If we rearranged the educational experience of learners around positive motivational principles, that is, promoting the will to learn and a love of learning, what would school look like?