When students get revved up about their lessons, teaching is a joy. The kids energetically chime in to classroom discussions, happily crunch numbers, role-play the capture of the Alamo, or lose themselves in a book.

But when students aren't motivated to learn the content, look out. Kids goof off, get into squabbles, and annoy their teachers with the time-honored skeptical challenge: Why do we have to learn this stuff, anyway?

So what does it take to get kids charged up about school?

Hundreds of research studies have addressed that question. Michigan State University professor Jere Brophy, author of Motivating Students to Learn, summed up the high points for NEA Today:

Students--specially those who don't have a great track record of school success--are more motivated and perform better when they believe the classroom is safe and supportive. A kid who feels intimidated or fears being picked on for "not knowing" is less likely to get engaged in the classwork.

"Probably the most important single thing a teacher can do is establish a collegial; supportive environment," says Brophy. "It's vital that the teacher model for students the idea that the classroom is a learning community. That we're collaborating, not competing, and we're going to learn together. That mistakes are expected, and if you need help, there's no shame in asking for it."

Researchers use the term "efficacy"--the idea that most people who undertake a task have some reasonable expectation they'll succeed.

But here you are with the kid in your math class who's flunked math twice before--and whose palms sweat if you even mention polynomials. His motivation is likely in the tank.

"The student has to believe that he can succeed at an acceptable level if he invests reasonable effort," says Brophy. "For many students, that's not a reasonable expectation because they're so far behind."

For teachers, that means finding ways to get them extra help, reassuring them that if they put in steady effort, they can learn it. "You have to build the kid's trust and confidence," says Brophy. "The teachers who tend to be particularly successful with struggling students convey that they're willing to work with them if the student meets them halfway. They communicate to these students, 'I know some things about how to help students like you.'"

What about grades? "If you want grades to be motivating, you need to hold out hope and opportunity," Brophy says. "If a student knows she can't get better than a D three quarters of the way through the term, she's not going to be motivated by anything at that point." Teachers should think about offering extra safety nets for students who are struggling--such as extra assignments for extra credit--and resist grading on the curve, which dooms a certain number of students to failure.

Learners--adults as well as kids--need to see the usefulness of what they're being asked to learn. Teachers whose students exhibit more motivation tend to go to greater lengths to explain the connection between academic content and the "real world." They build on students' interests, and they are careful to plan activities that help students see connections between "big ideas."

That's tough to accomplish with the test-mania gripping many schools, Brophy admits. Teachers are pushed to cover innumerable isolated facts and skills in preparation for tests, and ambitious units designed to foster students' conceptual understanding take a back seat.

"There are good reasons for learning algebra or studying Shakespeare," Brophy says. "You need to monitor those reasons and convey them to students."

It's one of the most controversial aspects of motivating students--one that has divided researchers and practitioners alike. Critics of the overuse of praise and rewards argue that it undermines a student's own intrinsic motivation to perform in school. In other words, giving students free pizza or tokens for getting good grades or reading a certain number of books makes kids focused on the reward--and less likely to do these things when a reward isn't attached.

"Praise and rewards are helpful and supportive...but they are often used to control behavior, and that's not motivating," Brophy says.

Successful teachers praise kids individually and privately, focusing on their progress, giving feedback. "Those sorts of comments are rewarding, but rewarding in ways that are motivating. Those support greater efficacy. That's much more powerful than: 'You got a 97 so you get a candy bar.'"

Brophy cautions against giving rewards in ultra-competitive classroom situations. "That makes a few kids temporarily happy. For the other 20, it's just more depressing news about school." His advice: focus on the class as a whole. Congratulate the whole class for doing well on the test. Have an unannounced surprise treat for everyone. Save individual things for private comments. And don't publicly praise or criticize students or compare them.

It's widely assumed by policy makers pushing high-stakes testing that, when the consequences are big enough, students will put forth extra effort to do well on them. Research shows the idea doesn't hold water. "Despite all the talk about how we can make better tests, the fact is that they are very costly, and so the tests we tend to end up with measure disconnected knowledge," Brophy says.

The result? Teachers spend more time drilling kids on things that might be on the test, and the curriculum narrows even more. The most creative--and potentially more motivating--lessons go right out the window.

Moreover, the bottom half of students "already know that they're going to do poorly on these highly stressful tests," says Brophy. "So the tests end up doing more harm than good." Better options, he believes, would be to require students to attend summer school or provide them regular tutoring after school. "Holding them back," Brophy contends, "is not the answer."