Chapter 10: Achievement Goals and High-Stakes Test Anxiety in Standard 5 Students in Trinidad

This chapter explores the historical imprints of high-stakes testing in Trinidad and Tobago’s primary education system, and the sociocultural beliefs that support it. The chapter also examines the association of anxiety, induced by the Secondary Entrance Assessment, and Standard 5 students’ (age 11, n = 215) perceptions of their personal achievement goals, and the achievement goals displayed by their parents, teachers, and classmates. The results from this study suggest that with children, pressure for academic success may involve a delicate balance between parent, teacher, and classroom pressures; and lasting school transformation requires academic equity, social support, and changes to historically ingrained cultural beliefs.