ECD: Kognito Program
My exploration of the ECD model with the Kognito computer program using a new concept mapping program.
Wednesday, May 4, 2016
Article Review: Teachers Expectations Over the Long Term
Article Review – The Longitudinal Relations of Teacher Expectations to
Achievement in the Early School Years
This article explored the research on the
impact of teacher expectations in the early years as a predictor of later
student achievement. Exploring reading and mathematics areas, the researchers
reviewed data from nearly 1,000 students in first, third, and fifth grade. A link
between a child’s gender and social skill perceptions by the teacher and
expectations of performance rose, but there was no evidence of this impact
accumulating. However, teacher expectations indicated a stronger relation to
later achievement of high risk student populations.
Citation
Hinnant, J.B., O’Brien, M., & Ghazarian,
S.R. (2009). The Longitudinal Relations of Teacher Expectations to
Achievement in the Early School Years. Journal of Educational Psychology 101(3), 662-670.
Google Scholar Link:
Summary
Purpose of the research
It is known that early education forms a
foundation for later student achievement. However, there are little
longitudinal studies on the long term impact that teacher expectations have on
the academic career of students. The authors reviewed aspects which impact the
studies of teacher expectations. First, self-fulfilling prophesy exists and indicates
a small to moderate effects on students from teacher expectations. Next, in
examining the impact of teacher expectations, one must look at the low/high
teacher expectations and match this with a student’s achievement of
standardized test to explore if there is a discrepancy or is there accuracy.
The authors examined children’s early academic abilities and whether teacher expectations
influenced a change in students’ performance on standardized test and later in
the long-term span of their academic careers.
Note: This article continues an exploration of
early article reviews by exploring the snowball effect and whether the impact
of expectations dissipates over time or holds more relevancy with higher risk
populations and/or new environments. In addition, it considers that oftentimes
teacher expectations are accurate to students’ standardized performance with
the exception of perceptual biases linked to social stereotypes or experiences
with particular children including gender, ethnicity, race and socioeconomic
level.
Research questions
The authors review the relationship between teacher’s
expectations and students later academic achievement in consideration of children’s’
gender, ethnicity, family income, and child social skills. They hypothesize
that there will be a correlation between academic performance (self-fulfilling prophesy)
and teacher expectancy effects in at risk minority groups, those with poor
social skills, and gender (reading for boys and math for girls).
Specifically, the authors posit, “that
teachers will overestimate girls’ competence in reading and boys’ competence in
math, underestimate the academic abilities of minority children and those from
low income families, and overestimate the academic abilities of children they
perceive as socially competent”. The researchers also test “the question of
whether teacher expectations are more highly related to later child performance
for vulnerable children”.
Methods
Tracking information from birth to fifth grade
included six home visits, four parent-child laboratory visits and for some
child care setting observations. Also reviewed were first, third and fifth
grade classroom observations, cognitive skill lab assessments, and teacher
questionnaires on students’ academic and social capacities, and the teacher’s
education and experience levels.
Teachers completed the Social Skills Questionnaire
from the Social Skills rating System (SSRS, Gresham % Elliott, 1990) with 38
items on students’ cooperation, assertion, responsibility and self-control.
Teacher reports using the Academic Skills questionnaire on classroom
performance was combined with standardized performance from the
Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-Educational Battery Revised (Woodcock & Johnson,
1989) in reading and math. A discrepancy score between a teacher’s report and
the standardized test was calculated using six scores (a reading and math score
for the three assessed years) to indicate under (negative) or over (positive) estimations
and predict future academic achievement.
Subjects
Using a large national study database from the
NICHD Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development of 1,364 families from 10
geographic locations followed from birth (1991) to fifth grade. School observations
were conducted on 955 students following them from first to fifth grades. The
students were less likely to be from a lower socioeconomic level or a member of
a minority group (17%).
Results
Following
preliminary examination of the data, two sets of hierarchical regression
analyses were conducted. The following evidence emerged from this study:
- Teacher reading expectations matched to students’ test performance prior to first grade but this was so with math expectations.
- Socially competent children were viewed by teachers are being more academically skilled than scores indicated.
- Teachers tended to overestimate girls and underestimate boys in regards to reading abilities and their actual test scores.
- In 5th grade, ethnicity emerged as relevant with minority children perceived as less competent at math than their test scores indicate.
- In 3rd and 5th grade, students reading performance was linked to demographics and to social competence (positive association with income and ethnicity) but not to earlier grades teacher expectations.
- 3rd grade reading performance showed a significant 3-way interaction with teacher expectancy, gender and ethnicity.
- There was indication that the link between 1st grade teacher expectations and 3rd grade math performance depends on family income level - low/average incomes positively related to teacher expectations with performance.
- When teachers have a more positive view of students’ math abilities than their test scores indicate, they perform better (visa versa with negative perceptions and lower performance).
- These math expectations and future academic impact are small but long-lasting four years later.
Discussion
Implications
The first aspect is that it appears
teachers’ expectations are mirrored by academic history records, with a few
exceptions: gender and reading, socially competent and easier to manage
children with reading and math. Second, reading expectations do not
appear to accumulate, however they do for math. Next, when minority boys
were underestimated they had the lowest performance and when overestimated the
greatest gains. Finally, for children from low income families (some but
less for average income) 1st grade teacher expectations were related
to 3rd grade math performance with no link for high income families.
A challenge to the study is that the data was
gathered from spring term versus the onset of fall thus new environment and the
impact of initial expectations were not made. Additionally, overall classroom
expectations from teachers were not noted, as my second article I reviewed indicated
this may be even more relevant than individualized expectations. Also, the
student population was overrepresented by white and high income demographics,
and the students were compared to each other.
A strength of this study is the number of
students, vast geographic ranges, comprehensive data sets and points in time
over the long –term. Overall, some evidence emerged that early teacher expectancy
with math may influence later academic performance, and some “child characteristics
identity may moderate the relation between teacher expectations and academic
achievement over time.”
Contribution and future research
Future research focus
More research on on the processes teachers use
to convey different expectations to students are needed. Moreover, motivation
(through interest and engagement) was also assessed, and social skills are a
strong predictor of teacher expectations and impact some groups more than
others. Other test results may not include this motivational subset, so this
deems further exploration. Lastly, we need to assess at the onset of the year
when expectations may have more influence due to a new environment and to see
if they are accurate, persist over time, or adjust in their accuracy with more
time to observe.
Implications for the technology-enhanced learning (TEL) environment
This is where computerized modules that guide learners at their pace have the opportunity to coach students based on actual performance and opportunities to review. These only depend on time and access to machines, and not to the amount of time and positive attention given by teachers. This can negate some of the overestimation occurring because of social competency because the computer isn’t biased by liking certain students.
Tuesday, April 19, 2016
Wednesday, April 13, 2016
Article Review: Teacher Expectations and Self-Fulfilling Prophecies: 35 Years of Research
Title:
Citation:
Jussim, L. & Harber, K.D. (2005). Teacher expectations and self-fulfilling prophecies: Known and
unknowns, resolved and unresolved controversies. Personality and Social
Psychology Review, 9(2), 131-155.
SUMMARY
Purpose of the
research
In reviewing over 35 years of research, the authors posit
that the impact of self-fulfilling prophecies are small and may dissipate, they
have a more powerful effect on marginalized groups, and teacher expectation may
predict student outcomes more. This was a comprehensive meta analysis that had
not been done over 20 years or synthesized at this broaden level.
Research questions
Essentially reviewing the impact of social perception and
how it creates social reality and if teacher expectations help or hinder social
issues.
(1) What
did the early teacher expectation research show?
(2) Do
teacher expectations influence student intelligence?
(3) How
powerful is the typical self-fulfilling prophecy in the classroom?
(4) How
accurate is the typical teacher expectation?
(5) Do
negative teacher expectations harm students more than positive teacher
expectations help students?
(6) Do
teacher expectations effects accumulate across different teachers and over
time?
Methods
The authors recognize the disconnect that sometimes occur
between expert thought, empirical data, and narrative reviews. Paying attention
to this gap, they focus on effect sizes and empirical evidence more than on the
authors’ conclusions and analysis interpretations by others in their
meta-analysis.
Subjects
The authors reviewed and highlighted major works that were
inclusive of several meta-analyses to explore each of the questions posited.
This highlights some of the major topics discussed, although they never offered
an exact number of how many articles reviewed.
In an attempt to refute his critics, Rosenthal became a
pioneer in the meta-analysis process and with Rubin (1978) analyzed 345
experiments dividing them into 8 categories to demonstrate the existence of self-fulfilling
prophecy. Rosenthal later updated his meta-analysis in 1994.
Raudenbush (1984) authored a meta-analysis of 18 studies
which found a small mean effect size (d=.11) with IQ expectations studies. Raudenbush
(1994) did a reanalysis and found 14 studies still showed no overall effects.
Results
While Rosenthal and Raudenbush concluded that teacher
expectation influences IQ, Wineburg (1987) and Snow (1995) provide critiques of
the research data. Some highlights of the authors’ analysis were:
- Self-fulfilling prophecies are real and the effects are typically small.
- The reason teacher expectations impacts exist are because of accuracy.
- There is not enough data to indicate whether positive or negative expectancies have the most effect.
- There is a pattern of dissipation in regards to the accumulation extent of expectancy power with the notable exception of social stigmatized groups.
DISCUSSION
Implications
The authors point out the flaws in the narrative built
around self-fulfilling prophecy versus what the empirical data says. First,
they point out the effect sizes have not been as dramatic as posited. Of
significance to discuss in class is the accurate analysis of the
often-mentioned Pygmalion in the Classroom study (1968) by Rosenthal and Jacobson,
including what the results said (smaller effect size (.30) and correlation
(r=.15) and how people interpreted pointed out. A secondary point is that 40
years of programs intending to increase IQ results in disadvantaged populations
have failed to produce the IQ effect results people are inferring teacher
expectations do with self-fulfilling prophesies.
The analysis points to varying results based on timing of
the year for study intervention, age and level of school, newness of
situations, the students’ perceptions of teachers differential treatment,
tracking by ability level, and students identity with a stigmatized social
group linked to social inequalities.
The authors spent time exploring the disconnect phenomena
between social psychology (embracing) and educational psychology (skepticism)
conclusions on self-fulfilling prophecy. This is also impacted by the absence
of accuracy emphasis (is the teacher assessment in line with the student's performance level) within social psychology versus educational psychology and
their differing methodologies.
Brophy’s (1983) narrative review stated that self-fulfilling
prophecy had an effect on only 5-10% of students. Finally, with the
accumulation effect, a broad review of four studies showed dissipating effects
although their scope is limited by four studies.
Overall, this leads me to understand that there might be
other factors at play with how teacher expectations impact students and their
performance. Namely, if you are in a stigmatized group you feel this differently
and if the information is introduced early on it has more impact in that it can
influence other data the teacher is gathering (class performance, school
records, test results, etc.). The studies pointed out that further exploration
is needed on how teachers’ expectations are perceived as accurate based on what
they are seeing as performance evidence (is it objective or subjective, is it
accurate or not accurate, and does it stay stagnant or modify as more
information is introduced). The newness of situations seems to have an impact
so that initial tone is extremely vital. Furthermore, the other article I previously
reviewed explored more deeply the impact of teacher universal expectations on a
class versus individual student that might explain the differences of how
students perform.
CONTRIBUTION AND
FUTURE RESEARCH
Future research focus
The authors offer that research in “how teacher, school, and
community…characteristics moderate self-fulfilling prophecies is needed” (p.
153). While there is evidence of the fleeting and minimal impact of
self-fulfilling prophecies, there needs to be further research into the
“evidence that, in certain contexts and among certain groups, they are indeed
consistently powerful ad pervasive” (p.153).
Implications for the
technology enhanced learning (TEL) environment
When we consider technology-enhanced learning, this can
provide a vehicle of neutrality with teacher expectations and student
performance. In addition, such tools like Canvas and measuring the learning
analytics behind it can shed light onto student behaviors and curriculum
design. We can use this to more accurately and objectively assess how students are performing and the impact of teacher expectations.
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