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:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2860190/

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 5^th grade, ethnicity emerged as relevant with minority children perceived as less competent at math than their test scores indicate.
• In 3^rd and 5^th 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.
• 3^rd grade reading performance showed a significant 3-way interaction with teacher expectancy, gender and ethnicity.
• There was indication that the link between 1^st grade teacher expectations and 3^rd 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) 1^st grade teacher expectations were related to 3^rd 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.