Progressive educational schools follow inherently an approach with an emphasis on individualization and self-regulation of learning. Regarding motivational conditions in classrooms, it can therefore be expected that progressive educational schools are characterized in comparison to traditional schools through a more favorable motivational climate that is associated with more favorable individual motivation and emotion of students. To expand the fragmentary state of research on this topic, the present research analyzed classroom goal structures and teachers’ reference norm orientations in progressive educational schools and traditional schools. Goal orientations and test anxiety were incorporated as indicators of students’ motivation and emotion. Data from a study focused on the subject of mathematics was analyzed; the sample consisted of 1120 secondary school students out of 56 classrooms, including 22 classrooms out of progressive educational schools (Montessori, Waldorf) and 34 classrooms out of traditional schools. Results of multilevel modelling indicated substantial differences between the analyzed school types with consistently more favorable values for progressive educational schools. At the same time, large overlaps between progressive educational and traditional schools as well as large differences within each school type were evident.