To determine whether children with below average intelligence who are motivation oriented (MO) are different in school achievement from those who are oriented toward hygiene (HO), 72 children (ages 12 to 17, IQ's 50 to 89) subjects were divided into four groups of 18 by intelligence and by orientation as determined by the Choice-Motivator Scale: educable mentally retarded (EMR)-MO, dull normal (DN)-MO, EMR-HO, and DN-HO. The Metropolitan Achievement Test was administered; occupational ratings of 53 fathers were used to measure socioeconomic status (SES). The HO group was significantly higher in SES (p .05), but no significant differences were found between MO and HO groups in intelligence or in regular or special class placement. MO subjects were significantly higher than HO subjects in spelling and average achievement (p .05). In comparisons between IQ levels of the same orientation, the significant differences were in favor of the EMR subjects; between subgroups of differing orientation, significant differences in achievement favored the MO subjects (p .05 for both). MO subjects in regular grades achieved higher than HO subjects; in special classes the EMR-MO subjects achieved higher than the DN-MO and DN-HO subjects (p .05), and EMR-HO subjects achieved higher than DN-MO subjects (p .05). (RJ)