Achievement goals refer to the purposes students perceive for engaging in achievement-related behaviors and the meanings they ascribe to those behaviors (Ames, 1992; Dweck, 1986; Maehr, 1984; Nicholls, 1989). They can influence how students approach, experience, and perform in achievement settings. Achievement goal research in physical education has been conducted primarily with American students. It has been suggested that social, cultural, and contextual influences should be investigated if we wish to establish a broad knowledge base on students¢ achievement goals. The present study, therefore, extends previous work on American students¢ achievement goals in physical education to students from Turkey, a country with remarkably different social and cultural values and structures from the United State. Specifically, this study examined achievement goals and their relations to students¢ persistence in secondary physical education. Participants included 229 8th (57 boys and 54 girls) and 11th-grade students (65 boys and 53 girls). They completed a 26-item , 7-point Likert scale questionnaire assessing their achievement goals (mastery approach, performance approach, performance avoidance) and persistence in physical education. All items were modified from previous research and subjected to factor analyses. Multiple regression analyses revealed that only performance approach goals (8th grade: b = .39, p < .01; 11th grade: b = .34, p < .01) and mastery approach goals (8th grade: b = .40, p < .01; 11th grade: b = .24, p < .05) emerged as significant positive predictors of students¢ persistence. A one-way multivariate analysis of variance yielded a significant main effect for grade (Wilks¢ l = .83, F (4, 223) = 11.25, p < .001). Univariate follow-up indicated that students in 8th grade scored higher on performance approach goals, performance avoidance goals, and persistence than students in 11th grade, and no significant grade difference was found in mastery approach goals. Results of this study suggest that the relationship between achievement goals and motivated behaviors found among American students also existed among Turkish students in secondary physical education. However, the finding that students in 8th grade were more likely to endorse performance approach and performance avoidance goals than their older counterparts is not consistent with American studies indicating that students became more performance-focused as they advanced from grade to grade. The inconsistency may reflect social, cultural, and contextual differences between the two countries.