Efforts to improve math instruction over the last decade has degenerated into a debate about traditional or constructivist teaching methodologies, the kind of instructional materials to use, including or banishing calculators, ways to improve teacher training, and the best sequencing of math courses in the curriculum. Far less attention has been directed to the investigation of student attitudes. Although there is a body of research about attitudes toward mathematics, most of it is concerned only with anxiety. Most of this research is also based on results derived from instruments that predated modern statistical standards for factor analysis that currently guide the examination of interrelationships among variables. Use of the ATMI may be important for teachers and researchers, because success or failure in math performance is greatly determined by personal beliefs. Regardless of the teaching method used, students are likely to exert effort according to the effects they anticipate, which is regulated by personal beliefs about their abilities, the importance they attach to mathematics, enjoyment of the subject matter, and the motivation to succeed.