JOURNAL OF RESEARCH €N SCIENCE TEACHING VOL. 21, NO. 1, PP. 55-61 (1984)

THE RELATIONSHIP AMONG TEACHER CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT BEHAVIOR, STUDENT ENGAGEMENT, AND STUDENT

ACHIEVEMENT OF MIDDLE AND HIGH SCHOOL SCIENCE STUDENTS OF VARYING APTITUDE

JOHN R. MC GARITY, JR.

Elbert County Comprehensive High School, Elberton, Georgia 30602

DAVID P. BUTTS Department of Science Education, University of Georgia, Athens, Georgia 30602

Abstract

This study was designed to determine the relationship among teacher classroom manage- ment behavior, student engagement, and student achievement of middle and high school science students. These variables were investigated across varying levels of academic aptitude. Two week long units were taught by 30 experienced science teachers. During this period of time teacher classroom management behavior, student achievement (n = 570), student engagement (n = 269), and student academic aptitude (n = 649) were measured. Twelve selected manage- ment indicators from Georgia Teachers Performance Assessment Indicators (TPAI) were used to measure teacher classroom management behaviors. Regression analysis was used t o determine the relationship between the variables, and appropriate post hoc procedures were used. Analyses showed that there was a significant relationship among all variables. Post hoc analysis showed that these results were consistent across levels of aptitude. Other relationships found were between student engagement and achievement, student aptitude and achievement, and student aptitude and engagement. Correlation coefficients were obtained for each individual management indicators. Those particular management behaviors which were correlated with achievement and engagement are: identifies students who do not understand directions and helps them individually, maintains learner involvement in lessons, reinforces and encourages the efforts of learners to maintain involvement, attends to routine tasks, uses instructional time efficiently, provides feedback to learners about their behavior, manages disruptive behavior among learners.

Introduction

Children are society’s investment in the future. Schools are provided to teach skills which will enable them to lead rewarding and fruitful lives. The measurement of how well they have learned these skills, their achievement, is of high interest to parents and educators. Presently much emphasis is placed on achievement and those variables which influence achievement. This study is targeted on science achievement and specific factors that influence student success in achieving.

@ 1984 by the National Association for Research in Science Teaching Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc. CCC 0022-4308/84/010055-07$01.70

56 MC GARITY AND BUTTS

Of the many variables that influence the achievement of students, some are beyond the scope of the school: family background, socio-economic status, and ethnicity (Jencks, 1972; Mostellr & Moynihan, 1972). But there are other variables which influence achievement that do fall within the realm of the school setting. Among these are variables such as student academic engagement and how the teacher manages the classroom. The amount of time a student spends involved in a learning task has been shown to be a factor that correlates highly with achieve- ment (Cobb, 1972; Lahaderne, 1968; Rosenshine, 1978; Samuels & Turnure, 1974). If there is indeed a relationship between student engagement and student achievement, then attention should be given to those variables which influence engagement,

Anderson (1980), Bloom (1976), Gump (1967), and Kounin (1970) found that a very important variable, teacher management behavior, has an influence on student engagement. Other researchers (Anderson, Evertson, & Brophy, 1979; Capie, Ellett, & Johnson, 1979) found a correlation between teacher management and student achievement. These relationships are represented in Figure 1.

Based on the model, teacher behavior was expected to influence what students do in the classroom and subsequently their achievement. Thus, the purpose of this study was to determine the relationship between teacher management behavior, student engagement, and student achievement. Since individual differences in aptitude occur in most classroom settings, these differences were taken into account by investigating this relationship of teacher manage- ment behavior and engagement across varying levels of student scholastic aptitude.

Procedure

Both teachers and students were used as units of analysis in this study. The enrollment in the schools of the six counties ranged from 2426 students to 4718 students. Three countries were classified as rural counties by the state statistician, the other three were classified as urban.

Permission was obtained from all principals to conduct the study in their school. At this time teachers who met the desired qualifications (science teachers with three years or more teaching experience) were identified. The study was explained to each teacher with participa- tion being voluntary. Of the 44 teachers interviewed, four declined to participate and 10 were unable to work the study into their schedule. Data were gathered during a 10-day period of time suitable to both the teacher and researcher. During this period, the aptitude, achievement, and engagement of the students and the management behaviors of each teacher were measured.

Thus the study involved 30 middle and high school science teachers, and 672 students from six counties. Achievement data were obtained through pre- and posttest. Engagement data were obtained by observation, and an aptitude test was administered to each student. Each teacher was rated on management behaviors.

Teacher Behavior Behavior

Fig. 1 . A model of school learning (based on Medley, 1977).

TEACHER CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT 57

Instruments

Achievement

Each teacher constructed a pretest which served also as a posttest for the unit that was taught during the period of instruction. Teachers who felt they needed instruction in the devel- opment of tests based on unit objectives received it. The tests were reviewed by a trained science teacher as to difficulty level, item type, length, and matching questions to objectives. Some tests were shortened in length and some questions were changed so as to be more objec- tive. Percent possible gain was used as a valid index of achievement; it was used to represent achievement. Percent possible gain was calculated as follows:

100 Percent Possible - Raw Gain (Posttest-Pretest) -

Gain Possible Score-Pretest

Teacher Management Behavior

The Teacher Performance Assessment Instrument (TPAI) (Capie et al., 1979) was used to measure teacher management behavior. The validity of the 1978-1979 edition of the TPAI has been investigated through a variety of research studies. Content validity was established through a statewide expert opinion study which verified the skills, their indicators, and descriptors as essential for teachers (Johnson et al., 1978). Construct validity has been established through a factor analysis of skills and indicators (Capie et al., 1978) and by correlating TPAI assessments with other teacher observation instruments (Ellett et al., 1978). Studies of internal consistency provide evidence for the reliability of the TPAI and the assessment process. Classroom agree- ment rates on the order of 85-90% have been reported, with alpha values in excess of 0.80 being common (Capie, Ellett, &Johnson, 1979).

A panel of experts identified 12 indicators from the TPAI which were related to the man- agement of students, or materials within the classroom. The following is a list of the indicators which were used in the analysis.

Gives directions and explanations related to lesson content. Provides learners with opportunities for participating. Maintains learner involvement in lessons. Reinforces and encourages the efforts of learners to maintain involvement. Attends to routine tasks. Uses instructional time efficiently. Demonstrates warmth and friendliness. Demonstrates sensitivity to the needs and feelings of learners. Provides feedback to learners about their behavior. Promotes comfortable interpersonal relationship. Maintains appropriate classroom behavior. Manages disruptive behavior among learners.

Each teacher was rated during one classroom period in the 10-day period of instruction by a trained rater. The same rater was used for all observations. The time of the observations was unannounced.

5 8 MC GARITY AND BUTTS

Scholastic Aptitude

The schools involved in the study use different tests to measure aptitude and these assess- ments are done at varying ages. To ensure consistency in aptitude scores, the School and College Ability Test (SCAT) Series I1 was used.

Test reliability for SCAT was determined by Kuder-Richardson Formula 20. Based on a random sample of 1000 students, the reliability coefficient was found to be at least 0.90 in all grades with a standard error of measurement of 4.22 in raw score units (SCAT, 1973).

To determine the validity of SCAT, a random sample of schools that had used the test were asked to provide midterm grades in English and mathematics and cumulative grade point aver- ages for the students test. Correlations of between 0.41 and 0.69, respectively, were obtained. These correlations provide statistical support for the predictive validity of SCAT.

Student Academic Engagement

Ten students were randomly selected for each classroom observation. They were observed for five seconds each minute duirng one period of science instruction. The periods ranged in length from 35 to 55 minutes. Three types of behavior were classified as academic engagement:

(a) attending-such as listening, looking at teacher, or at book; (b) working-such as taking notes, solving problems, or reading; (c) interaction-talking to the teacher or peers, or asking questions.

A student who was engaged received a score of (1). A student who was not involved in one of the above activities was classified as not engaged and received a score of (0). This procedure is similar to one suggested by Anderson (1976). The number of occasions the student was observed engaged was divided by the number of times the student was observed and multiplied by 100. This resulted in a number that represented the percent of times the student was observed paying attention. The same rater was used for all observations. To ensure rater reli- ability, the rater and an outside independent rater rated the same class and their ratings agreed 90% of the time. Simple and multiple regression analyses were used.

Findings

Based on the analysis using a general linear models procedure, the results were as follows:

(1) Teacher management behavior is related to both student engagement and student science achievement (Tables 1-111). Researchers have found a relationship between teacher man- agement and student engagement for elementary students (Anderson, 1980; Bloom, 1976). Other researchers found similar results for beginning teachers (Ellett, Capie, & Johnson, 1981). It seemed possible to expect similar results for middle and high school science students being taught by experienced teachers. The findings of this study supported this expectation. Those students taught by teachers exhibiting competency in classroom management spent more time engaged than those students taught by teachers who did not exhibit competency in the man- agement of their classroom. In addition, these students also achieved more than those students taught by teachers who did not exhibit similar competencies.

(2) Student engagement is related to student science achievement. Those students who spent more time engaged exhibited higher achievement gains. These are similar to those of Lahaderne (1968) looking at sixth graders, Cobb (1972) with fourth graders, and Hecht (1978) with high school students.

TEACHER CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT 59

TABLE I

CorreIation of the Study’s Variables

Achievement Apt i tude Engagement

Apt i tude

Engagement

Teacher Management Behavior

r = .20

n = 548

r = .16* p = .0001 n = 239

e = .001

r = .51 p = .0255 n = 26

r = .17 p_ = .005 n - 262

r = .69*

n = 29 p_ = .0002

*Adjusted for aptitude.

(3) Scholastic aptitude is related to engagement. The study showed that there is a relation- ship between student scholastic aptitude and student engagement when both variables are entered as continuous variables. When aptitude was classified as high, medium, and low, a significant difference was found between low and high aptitude students. Other pairwise con-

TABLE I1 Summary Table for General Linear Model Showing Means and

Pairwise Contrasts with Teacher Management and Aptitude Categorized and Achievement as the Dependent Variable*

Teacher Management

High

Medium P) P

U .d U

Low 2

Achievement Mean

Competent Non-Comp e t e n t

I = 70% I = 52% f = 65% n = 1 5 1 n = 211

f = 59% x = 53% x = 57% n = 136 n = 46 n = 182

f = 48% I n = 101 I n = 76 I n = 177 f = 41% ii = 54%

1 I 4 1 I f = 61% 2 = 48% j z = 58% n = 388 n = 182 1 n = 570

C e l l number from Table 2

1 2 3 4 5 6 41% 53% 52% 54% 59% 7 0%

*Means joined by the line are not significant difrerent (p < 0.05).

60

x = 74% n = 72 High I

6

MC GARITY AND BUTTS

? = 63% i = 7 1 % n = 2 6 n = 98

3

TABLE 111 Summary of General Linear Model Showing Means and Pairwise Contrasts with Teacher Management and Aptitude Classified and

with Engagement as the Dependent Variable* Teacher Management

Competent Non-Competent

? = 71% 4 o1 Medium I - n = 5 3 I n = 1 9 I n = 72

f = 58% x = 75% - 2 Y I .d I 5 2 4 2

I x = 1 2 % j i = 54% 9 Low I i = 6 4 I n = 3 5

I 4 1

= 68% n = 99

- f = 7 4 % x = 58% f = 69% n = 189 n = 80 n = 269

Cell numbers from Table 3

Engagement 1 2 3 4 5 6 Mean 54% 58% 63% 72% 75% 74%

*Means connected by a line are not significantly different 0, < 0.05).

trast proved to be nonsignificant. This shows that high aptitude students spend more time engaged than low aptitude students, but t h s is not true when comparing high aptitude to medium aptitude and low aptitude to medium aptitude.

(4) The relationship of classroom management with student science achievement and student engagement is consistent across differing levels of aptitude. Since there was no signifi- cant interaction between teacher classroom management and student aptitude with achieve- ment as the dependent variable, classroom management and achievement was consistent when aptitude level was considered. All aptitude levels achieved more when taught be teachers who exhibited competency in classroom management. A similar finding with respect to engagement was also found. Students of all aptitude levels spend more time engaged when taught by teachers who exhibited competency in classroom management.

The results of this study are clear; teacher classroom management behaviors are related to both student engagement and their science achievement. The implications for science teachers and science teacher educators are evident. Science teachers should strive to present materials that will be interesting enough to promote engagement. The teacher should also exhibit be- haviors that will keep students on-task such as moving among learners, frowning at misbehavior, and other pertinent nonverbal behavior. A classroom that is well managed and provides an atmosphere conducive to learner makes paying attention easier for the student. A student can be engaged and not achieve, but it is hard for a student to learn a task who was not engaged while that task was being taught.

TEACHER CLASSROOM MANAGEMENT 61

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Manuscript accepted April 12, 1983