Understanding Students’ Attitudes toward Statistics: New Perspectives Using an Expectancy-Value Model of Motivation and the Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics© Caroline Ramirez 1 , Esma Emmioglu 2 , Candace Schau 3 1 University of California, Davis, CA 2 Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey 3 CS Consultants, LLC, Albuquerque, NM Abstract Many statistics educators believe that students’ attitudes toward statistics are important. We assert that current educational achievement motivation models, especially Eccles’ Expectancy-Value Model (EVM), can assist us in understanding these attitudes. We have reframed the EVM, applying it to students enrolled in statistics courses. We show the congruence between EVM and the Survey of Attitudes toward Statistics© or SATS©. We then describe how this Model and the SATS© can be important in statistics education, both in evaluating and improving instruction and in research. (Abstract ID: 306439) Key Words: Students' attitudes, SATS©, statistics education, statistics achievement 1. Introduction For at least the last two decades, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics has recognized the effects of students’ attitudes and motivation in math achievement and persistence on school tasks (NCTM, 1989, 1991). Further, motivation has emerged as the primary factor for understanding math achievement, ability beliefs and expectations for success (Wigfield & Eccles, 2000). Although motivation has been widely recognized for its importance in education, we believe that statistics educators can benefit from understanding students’ motivation and attitudes toward statistics. Considering that statistics coursework contributes to a statistically literate society, students’ overall motivation and attitudes deserve special attention. The objective of this paper is to help us realize that it is just as important to pay attention to students’ motivation and attitudes as to their learning of statistics because the motivation and positive attitudes that we foster in our students have lifelong implications. To assist us in understanding students’ attitudes and motivation, we use Eccles’ Expectancy-Value Model (EVM) as a theoretical framework and show its congruence to the Survey of Attitudes toward Statistics© (SATS©). We explore the motivational constructs that Eccles and her colleagues (e.g., Eccles, O’Neill, & Wigfield, 2005; Eccles & Wigfield, 2002; Wigfield & Eccles, 2000) have used in their research and juxtapose it with the constructs in the SATS©, while emphasizing the multidimensional nature of attitudes and motivation. We then conclude with implications for statistics educators in the areas of pedagogy, research and evaluation. Section on Statistical Education – JSM 2010 830