Persevering toward What? Investigating the Relationship between Ninth-grade Students’ Achievement Goals and Perseverant Actions on an Algebraic Task

Perseverance is vital for the process of learning mathematics with understanding. To do so, students must wrestle with obstacles and amend their problem-solving plan when necessary. I collected qualitative data to investigate the nature of perseverance for 11 ninth-grade algebra students working on a challenging task for which they affirmed interest. Employing analytical frameworks of achievement goal perceptions and subsequent perseverant actions, the findings inform three distinct profiles of in-the-moment perseverance states. These profiles suggest that perseverant actions are not always aligned with students’ goals of meaning-making. Although students may report being motivated by building conceptual understanding, they may not fully grasp what it means to achieve such mastery goals. I provide suggestions for teachers to further encourage the development of more perseverant learners.