Developmental trends in various components of academic self-regulated learning among children in middle school were examined in a longitudinal-sequential study. In particular, the study addressed the question whether children's perceptions of academic self-efficacy are influenced by their developing metacognitions about study activities, beliefs about the causes of learning outcomes, and goal orientation for learning. Self-report questionnaires were administered to elementary school children from three cohorts for a period of three years. Mean ages for the three cohorts at the first year of testing were as follows: Cohort A = 151 months (SD = 7.35), Cohort B = 138 months (SD = 7.18), and Cohort C = 126 months (SD = 5.92). Sixty percent of the children were African-Americans and more than half ($\sim$55%) were female students. Older children were found to report less use of rote strategies, were marginally less mastery oriented, were more likely to believe that successful outcomes are caused by one's ability, and more likely to attribute failure outcomes to lack of effort than younger children. In addition, children who reported greater strategy use tended to adopt mastery goals and, over time, came to believe that successful outcomes are determined by effort. Being strategic in learning, adopting mastery goals, and attributing enhanced performance to ability strongly influenced concurrent levels of self-efficacy for both younger and older children. Findings were discussed in terms of a developing academic self-concept