Potential-based goals help students achieve peak performance

Many educators say students should reach for big goals and targets, but the targets they talk about often revolve around outperforming others or reaching certain test scores.

Over the past few decades, this familiar pattern has led to a laser-like focus on performance metrics, rank orders, and standardized benchmarks.

Something else may be lurking in the background, though. Something that could explain why some learners surge ahead while others stall out.

Goals for student motivation

There is new research that suggests we have been overlooking an important dimension – something called potential-based goals.

This fresh look at how students define their aims in school appears in a study recently published in the British Journal of Educational Psychology.

After analyzing years of data from international undergraduate students, the researchers found that these overlooked goals could hold the key to understanding student effort and improvement.

The lead author, Dirk Tempelaar, from the Department of Quantitative Economics, School of Business and Economics, Maastricht University in The Netherlands, and his colleagues, point out that when we cling too hard to the old measurements, we miss this extra layer of understanding.

Potential-based goals and students

Potential-based goals are about students working toward what they could achieve, rather than just chasing a top grade or beating the class average. These goals encourage learners to consider their own progress over time.

Unlike performance-based goals, potential-based ones do not compare a student with anyone else. They inspire students to measure their efforts against what they might be capable of down the road.

By doing this, learners may find better ways to improve skills and develop stronger internal motivation.

“Our analysis shows that all eight goal constructs clearly distinguish and confirm both first-order and second-order factor analysis models,” stated Tempelaar.

A different way to measure success

Potential-based goals do not show up much in standard achievement frameworks.

Traditional methods often focus on whether students master content or outperform others. This can push students toward short-term gains, like cramming for a test, rather than long-term growth. 

Potential-based goals guide learners to think about their own learning journey, which encourages them to consider their personal limits and challenge themselves beyond any fixed notion of ability. 

Research on motivation and achievement theory supports the idea that the way in which students think about learning – whether they believe their abilities can grow – can influence how much effort they put into tough tasks.

Why this matters to students

Academics have long examined the links between motivation and performance. They have explored growth mindsets, personal best goals, and learning goals. Potential-based goals may fit right alongside these established ideas.

These goals highlight the importance of comparing current progress to a student’s own future possibilities.

Studies inspired by Carol Dweck’s work on goal orientations have shown strong links between how a student views their own ability and how they perform over time.

“Individuals who adopt a learning goal orientation tend to engage in more effective learning strategies,” reported Dweck and co-author Ellen Leggett. Adding potential-based goals to the toolbox might enrich this connection.

By encouraging students to consider what they could accomplish, instead of where they currently stand, teachers might help them stretch their efforts in a healthier direction.

One size does not fit all

The researchers examined a large sample – over ten thousand international undergraduates from several academic years – so they could analyze patterns across different cohorts.

This allowed them to confirm that these potential-based goals are not just an outlier or a passing trend. The data suggest these goals matter in a consistent and measurable way.

In a world where classrooms often differ in terms of backgrounds, skill sets, and languages, this new perspective could support more tailored approaches. Not every student responds the same way to competition.

Some learners find it inspiring, while others get discouraged. Potential-based goals may help level the playing field by nudging students toward personal improvement rather than forcing them to run a race they feel they cannot win.

Reshaping student goals

Adding these goals to the existing 3×2 achievement goal framework might also challenge the way in which researchers and educators develop interventions.

Without acknowledging potential-based goals, they may be missing a chance to understand deeper motivational currents.

Certain teaching techniques that focus solely on hitting predefined targets might overlook what really drives a learner’s persistence.

When educational policies emphasize grades and rankings, they may unintentionally push aside the student’s sense of personal potential.

“Consistent with Dweck’s model, a learning goal orientation was positively related to successful academic performance,” one study reported.

This line of thought suggests that if teachers learn to recognize a student’s sense of potential, they might design activities that inspire a student to grow, rather than just aim for a fixed benchmark.

A move toward practical application

In practice, educators might consider ways to integrate potential-based goals alongside existing performance or mastery goals. This could mean advising students to set personal milestones based on their own capabilities, not just on standard expectations.

It might involve classroom discussions that focus on what learners think they can achieve next semester, not just whether they hit last semester’s targets.

By paying attention to potential-based goals, educators and policymakers may open new doors, making academic life feel less like a grind and more like a path of individual discovery.

At the end of the day, supporting these goals does not push aside the importance of grades or mastery. It simply gives students another lens by which to understand themselves, their ambitions, and their power to move forward.

The study was published in the British Journal of Educational Psychology.

—–

Like what you read? Subscribe to our newsletter for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates. 

Check us out on EarthSnap, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls and Earth.com.

—–