Raising teacher expectations, changing beliefs and enhancing
student achievementAn intervention study
Introductions◦ Teachers◦ Researchers
Outline of the project◦ Questions◦ Understandings/expectations
Welcome to the project
9.45 – Research background: ◦ Rosenthal◦ Teacher behaviours◦ Student characteristics: Gender, social class, ethnicity
10.30 – Morning tea 11.00 – Characteristics:
◦ Student characteristics: ethnicity◦ Teacher characteristics: Babad, Weinstein, Rubie-Davies
12.15 – Lunch 1.15 – Whole class expectations:
◦ The evidence◦ View/analyse own videos◦ Areas for development: grouping and learning experiences, motivation
and evaluation, class climate and student responsibility for learning◦ Identification of areas for growth
Plan for the day
Rosenthal and Jacobson◦ Rosenthal and rats◦ Experimenter effects◦ Expectations in classrooms◦ Pygmalion in the classroom◦ Conclusions◦ Controversy
A ground-breaking study
Formation of Class
Expectations
Student Outcomes:
Social/Academic
Instructional Practices
Opportunities to Learn
Teacher Beliefs
Socioemotional Environment
Instructional Environment
A Model of Teacher Expectations
Formation of expectations Personality correlates of teachers Transmission of differential expectations Student perceptions Educational and social outcomes
Research directions after Pygmalion
Formation of expectations
Greater influences Lesser influences
Portfolio information Gender Ethnicity Social class Diagnostic labels
Attractiveness Siblings Names Language style Personality and social
skills Teacher/ student
background
1. Wait time less for lows2. Give lows the answer/ ask
someone else3. Inappropriate
reinforcement4. Criticising lows for failure5. Praise lows less for
success6. Fail to provide feedback to
public response of lows7. Pay less attention to/
interact less with lows8. Call on lows less
frequently9. Seat lows farther from the
teacher10. Demand less from lows
11. Teachers interact more in private with lows; monitor and structure activities closely
12. Differential grading of tests13. Less friendly interaction
with lows14. Less informative feedback
to lows15. Lows receive less eye
contact and nonverbal communication
16. Less intrusive instruction of highs
17. Less use of effective instructional methods with lows
Transmission of differential expectations (Brophy, 1983)
Some specific teacher differential behaviours
Brophy (1985) behaviours towards low expectancy students
Good and Weinstein (1986) teachers provided less capable students with:
not helping enough to improve students’ answers
praising incorrect answers or inappropriate behaviours
demanding less of them shorter and less
informative feedback less intrusive instruction less use of time-consuming
instructional methods
less opportunity to perform publicly
less opportunity to think and analyse
less choice on assignments/ tasks
less autonomy and more frequent monitoring
more gratuitous and less contingent feedback
Development of research into teacher differential behaviour
Positives and negatives related to teacher differential behaviour
Importance of teacher differential behaviour
Stronger effects for affective climate and instructional input
A smaller effect for output
A practically negligible effect for differential feedback behaviours
Harris and Rosenthal (1985) meta-analysis
1. What are the specific types of differential behaviours?
2. What is the ideological legitimacy and educational desirability of each type of differential behaviour?
3. Which group of students receives an advantage from each type of teacher differential behaviour?
4. What is the teachers’ natural tendency and how would they wish to deal with particular students and different groups of students?
5. To what extent are teachers able to control their specific verbal and non-verbal behaviours?
Operationalising teacher differential behaviour
The components of the theory clash
Affective displays and actual feelings
Controlling affective displays: verbal and non-verbal
The affective domain
Do students perceive teacher differential behaviour?
Interpreting behaviours differently
Perceptions of teacher interactions
Students’ perceptions of teacher differential behaviour
Is there agreement in relation to degrees of learning support?
Is there agreement in relation to degrees of emotional support?
Comparison of student and teacher perceptions
Effects on students
Classroom climate and morale
Fairness and equity
Social comparison process is powerful and prevalent in schools
The social/ emotional effects of teacher differential behaviour
Adams (1965) ◦ Balance between what we put in and what we get
out◦ Influenced by others
Sense of justice
Equity theory
Student characteristics◦ Ethnicity
Teacher characteristics◦ High bias and low bias teachers: Babad◦ High differentiating and low differentiating
teachers: Weinstein◦ High expectation and low expectation teachers:
Rubie-Davies
Characteristics
Student characteristics - labelling
Gender Ethnicity Social class Diagnostic labels
Physical attractiveness
Language style Personality and
social skills Teacher/student
background Names Other siblings
Gender Primary school girls Secondary school boys – maths, science Ability/effort Teacher interactions PE Reading and language Social behaviour
Social class Middle class students are expected to
perform at higher levels than lower social class
Low social class are vulnerable to teacher expectations
Some evidence teachers’ assessments for lower class are accurate but over-rate middle class
But what about NZ?
Rubie-Davies
Diagnostic labels Expectations vary according to whether or
not a child has a label, e.g. ADHD
Stinnett (2001): 144 preservice teachers◦ ADHD, no label; Ritalin, in Special Ed◦ Description of child; vignette
Rubie-Davies
Other factors Physical attractiveness Language style Personality and social skills Teacher/student background Names Siblings
Rubie-Davies
Ethnicity African American/ White students Hispanic/ White students Vulnerability UK But what about NZ?
◦ St George (1983) academic◦ Stoddart (1998) social skills◦ Rubie-Davies, Hattie, Hamilton (2006)
Rubie-Davies
A New Zealand study Rubie-Davies (2006) British Journal of
Educational Psychology 21 teachers
◦ 540 students 261 NZ European 88 Maori 91 PI 94 Asian
Rubie-Davies
Measures Expectation survey
◦ 1-7 Likert scale Teacher judgement of student achievement Running records
Rubie-Davies
Expectation and achievem ent by ethnicity
0
0.5
1
1.5
2
2.5
3
3.5
4
4.5
5
NZ European Maori Pacif ic Island Asian
Student ethnicity
Exp
ecta
tio
n a
nd
ach
ievm
ent
Expectation
Achievement 1
Rubie-Davies
Teacher judgem ent and student achievem ent by ethnicity
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
NZ European Maori Pacif ic Island Asian
Ethnicity
Tea
cher
jud
gem
ent
and
stu
den
t ac
hie
vem
ent
Judgement
Achievement 2
Rubie-Davies
Effect Size Gain by Ethnicity in Reading
0
0.05
0.1
0.15
0.2
0.25
0.3
0.35
0.4
0.45
0.5
3 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.8 4 4.2 4.4 4.6 4.8
Teacher Expectation
Stu
de
nt
Eff
ec
t S
ize
A
ch
iev
em
en
t G
ain
NZ European
Maori
Pacific Island
Asian
Rubie-Davies
Conclusions Teacher expectations
◦ Ethnicity or social class? Societal stereotypes Lowered expectations
◦ Effect on pedagogy Lesson pace Structured environment Ability
Self-fulfilling prophecy effect/ sustaining expectation effect
Prejudice (bias) is a negative attitude
A stereotype is a generalisation, a belief
http://www.understandingprejudice.org/iat/
Bias, prejudice and stereotype
A belief about the personal attributes of a group of people
Stereotypes are sometimes over-generalised, inaccurate and resistant to new information
Stereotypes are shortcuts Stereotypes are biased Problems with the use of stereotypes Prejudice: A set of negative stereotypes
loaded with aggression and strong emotions carrying the idea that ‘we’ are better than ‘them’
Stereotypes
Often based on commonly held stereotypes What is teacher bias? Objectivity appears to be difficult Experimental vs naturalistic studies? Reversed bias Reducing bias
Teachers’ bias
Babad (1998) Draw-a-Person Intelligence test◦ One-sixth of teachers objective◦ One half mildly biased◦ One-quarter highly biased◦ A small proportion reverse biased
Personality correlates of susceptible teachers
Preferential affect is at the heart of the teacher expectation issue
Identified high and low bias teachers
Elisha Babad
Video clips
Ten-second exposure
Babad’s studies in elementary and secondary schools and at university
Teacher differential behaviour in teachers’ non-verbal behaviour
Students as judges Babad et al, 1989; 1991; Babad & Taylor,
1992◦ Adult judges of teacher non-verbal behaviour◦ What young students perceived in teachers’ non-
verbal behaviour◦ Students from different grade levels◦ In Israel and New Zealand◦ Students made guesses about the student the
teacher was talking to or about◦ Results
Students live different lives in one classroom
Student perceptions of differential treatment in the classroom
Rhona Weinstein
Student perceptions (Weinstein): the Teacher Treatment Inventory
High achievers Low achievers
Favoured in teacher interactions
Higher expectations
More opportunity and more choice
Receive more frequent negative feedback
More teacher-directed treatment
Teacher is the defining agent of ability not themselves, peers or parents
Public incidents Importance of nonverbal cues Children relate smartness to conforming
behaviour and fast completion of work Effects on children’s feelings
Interviews
Ways in which students are grouped for instruction
Materials and activities through which the curriculum is taught
Evaluation system that teachers use to assess learning
Motivational system used to engage students Responsibility that students have in directing and
evaluating learning Climate of relationships within the class, with
parents and with the school
Gleaning information about ability
High and low differentiating teachers (Weinstein, 2002)
Ability grouping Highly differentiated
curriculum Intelligence is fixed Learning for external
reward Teacher as director Teacher as academic
instructor
Variety of grouping Challenging learning
experiences Intelligence is
malleable Learning for
personal growth Teacher as facilitator Teacher as socialiser
The question is not, what is it about students that mean teachers have high or low expectations for them; the question we should be asking is, what is it about teachers that means some have high or low expectations for all their students?
Christine Rubie-Davies
What kinds of messages are you delivering to students? Verbally/ non-verbally?
Is there any evidence of bias?
What is it like for students to be in your class?
What does your body language tell students?
Analysis of your teaching video
0
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
Mean expectation and achievement
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9Teacher number
Teacher Expectation and Student Achievement
Reading exp
Reading ach 1
Effect Size Gain vs Expectation in Reading
-0.2
0
0.2
0.4
0.6
0.8
1
1.2
1.4
1.6
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Teacher Expectation
Stu
de
nt
Eff
ec
t S
ize
Ac
hie
vem
ent
Ga
in
HiEx Group
LoEx Group
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
Reading HiE x Reading LoE x Maths HiE x Maths LoE x
Student sel f per ceptions by teacher type
Student Self Perceptions in Reading and Maths
Beginning year
E nd year
7
7.2
7.4
7.6
7.8
8
8.2
8.4
8.6
8.8
Means
High LowTeacher Expectation of Students
Student Perception of Teacher Opinion of their Performance
Beginning of Year
End of Year
Teacher interviews Luke: “A lot of repetition, every day…until
they can start recalling their basic number facts.”
Hannah: “They need activities that are challenging so they are motivated. If I don’t make them independent as well [as the high ability students] they won’t learn to run by themselves. They’ll always need the teacher.”
Classroom observations
Teaching statements: orienting students to the lesson, introducing and explaining new concepts, using student prior knowledge
Feedback to students
Open and closed questions
Positive and negative behaviour management
Procedural statements
Teaching Approaches High expectation teachers: a facilitative
approach
Low expectation teachers: a directive approach
Classrooms of High Expectation Teachers
Mixed ability groupings Worked with a variety of peers Well-defined learning goals Responsibility for learning Choices in learning experiences Intrinsically motivated Frequent feedback Answering open questions that challenged
thinking Extended explanations of new concepts Positive social climate
Classrooms of Low Expectation Teachers
Teacher defined activities Extrinsically motivated Worked in ability groups Little mixed ability interaction Less ownership of learning Unsure of learning direction Answering closed questions Limited explanations of concepts Plenty of procedural directions Negative social climate
Grouping Learning activities Classroom climate Student responsibility Motivation Evaluation
Intervention areas