Achievement and engagement: How student characteristics influence teacher judgments

Teachers' judgments of student characteristics are affected not only by the characteristic in question, but also by other factors. This article presents three studies examining whether students' achievement influences teachers' judgments of their engagement (as a proxy for motivation) and vice versa. First, a field study was conducted with N = 52 teachers and N = 1135 students. Structural equation modeling revealed an effect of student achievement on teacher judgments of student engagement and an effect of student engagement on teacher judgments of student achievement—above and beyond the association of each student characteristic with teacher judgments of that characteristic. These results were then replicated in two experimental studies involving a computer simulation of an instructional situation, the Simulated Classroom, with N = 40 and N = 181 teacher candidates, respectively. The psychological determinants of the effects observed are discussed, as are their practical implications.     

Accuracy of teachers' judgments of students' cognitive abilities: A meta-analysis

This paper presents a meta-analysis of the accuracy of teachers' judgments of students' cognitive abilities. The array of cognitive abilities includes intelligence, giftedness, other cognitive abilities, and creativity. The integration of 106 effect sizes from 33 studies with a meta-analytical multilevel approach led to a mean judgment accuracy of cognitive abilities of r = 0.43. Moderation analyses revealed moderate to large effects for intelligence: r = 0.50, other cognitive abilities: r = 0.42, giftedness: r = 0.36, and creativity: r = 0.34. Lower judgment accuracy was shown for preselected student samples and for judgments without eligible frames of reference. We discuss an academic achievement bias as selected studies revealed higher correlations between judgments of intelligence and academic achievement measures (r = 0.61) than between judgments of intelligence and measures of intelligence.     

Teacher judgments at zero-acquaintance: A social accuracy analysis

How accurate are teachers’ first impressions and what moderates the degree of first impression accuracy? In previous teacher judgment accuracy research, teachers judged students who were well-acquainted to them, focusing on single traits. Here, we follow the zero-acquaintance paradigm and apply the Social Accuracy Model (SAM; Biesanz, 2010) to examine teachers’ first impressions regarding students’ personality profiles. Three groups of perceivers (student teachers, experienced teachers and psychology students; N = 285) rated students’ (N = 10) academic self-concept, intrinsic motivation and intelligence based on brief videos. SAM analyses revealed that teachers were accurate regarding the average students’ profile of characteristics (normative accuracy), but were not successful at detecting students' unique personality profiles (distinctive accuracy). Moreover, likeable students and those evaluated as more physically attractive were perceived with higher normative accuracy. Personality similarity and teaching experience were unrelated to accuracy. Implications for teacher judgment accuracy research and educational practice are discussed.     

Effects of different cue types on the accuracy of primary school teachers' judgments of students' mathematical understanding

To gain insight into how teachers' judgment accuracy can be improved, we investigated effects of cue-type availability. While thinking aloud, 21 teachers judged their fourth grade students' (n = 176) decimal magnitude understanding. Sensitivity (correctly judging what students did understand) did not improve from availability of both answer cues (students' answers to prior practice problems) and student cues (knowledge of students triggered by knowing their names), and was lower when only answer cues were available, compared to only student cues. Specificity (correctly judging what students did not understand) was higher when only answer cues were available, compared to only student cues or both student and answer cues.     

Dimensionality of teacher judgments on a competency-based report card in elementary school

Developments concerning report cards have led to a potential shift from reporting traditional grades to reporting multiple competencies within and across subjects. In this study, we analyzed the dimensional structure of the teacher judgments on a competency-based report card on fourth-grade elementary school students (N = 469). With a methodologically innovative approach of combining exploratory structural equation modeling (ESEM) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), we found one learning-oriented and one social-oriented generic subject-unspecific factor of competency judgments and single factors for each included subject. All subject factors showed relatively high correlations with the respective traditional grades. Second-order commonalities further indicated a general factor represented almost perfectly by the learning-oriented generic judgments. Our analyses generally justified the use of competency-based report cards in terms of the dimensional structure and the association with traditional grades. Further, generic subject-unspecific competency judgments contribute to disentangling the multidimensionality of teacher judgments.     

Can teachers accurately predict student performance?

In two studies, we examined the effect of professional development to improve mathematics instruction on the accuracy of teachers' monitoring of student learning. Study 1 was conducted with 36 teachers participating in three years of professional development. Judgment accuracy was influenced by the fidelity with which what was learned in the professional development. Study 2 was conducted with 64 teachers from 8 schools, which were randomly assigned to receive professional development or serve as a control. Judgment accuracy was greater for teachers receiving professional development than for teachers who did not and teachers were better to predict students' computational skills.     

Identifying determinants of teachers' judgment (in)accuracy regarding students' school-related motivations using a Bayesian cross-classified multi-level model

Teachers differ considerably in their judgment accuracy of motivational student characteristics. Thus far, only few investigations have focused on explaining these differences. In this study, we investigated to what extent groups of characteristics (i.e., student, information, teacher, and class characteristics) derived from the Realistic Accuracy Model (Funder, 1995) are relevant for explaining differences in teachers' judgment accuracy regarding students' school-related self-concept and autonomous motivation. Data from 1239 students and 341 teachers were analyzed using a Bayesian cross-classified multi-level modeling approach. Our analyses showed that variance in teacher judgments is largely due to variation at the level of judgments and less due to variation in the slope (i.e., the accuracy of teacher judgments). Teachers' judgment accuracy varied to a comparable degree across teachers and classes. Significant determinants for these differences were teachers' subject and students' grade point average.     

Consensus and dissensus in mentor teachers' judgments of readiness to teach

Deciding whether a teacher candidate is ready to teach is a significant judgment about which little is known. In this study, Social Judgment Theory's lens model is used to analyse grade decisions made by 18 primary school mentor teachers who were provided with four vignettes of fictional teacher candidates' practicum performance. Mentor teachers' grade decisions, and their reasoning, showed evidence of some consistency but also significant dissensus. We argue that such dissensus is inevitable in complex social decision-making and therefore needs to be used productively to help make more reliable judgments.     

The Domain-Specificity of Elementary School Teachers’ Judgment Accuracy

Teachers’ diagnostic competence for accurately judging students’ achievement is essential for instructional practice and professional decisions. To promote their judgment accuracy, it is important to know if this is a general or domain-specific skill. We investigated teachers’ judgment accuracy in German language (one subdomain: reading) and mathematics (two subdomains: geometry; stochastics) and examined differences across domains (i.e., German and mathematics) and across subdomains (reading; geometry; stochastics). We examined the judgment accuracy of 59 German elementary school teachers who teach both German and mathematics, judging the achievement of 1227 students in the three subdomains. We conducted multilevel analyses with a subsample of 39 teachers and 787 students and calculated different accuracy components (i.e., rank, level, and differentiation) to examine the comparability of our results. In line with prior research, findings revealed that teachers’ judgments were fairly accurate. However, there were significant differences between teachers’ average judgment accuracy in different subdomains (between-person comparisons) and no or only a weak relation between individual teachers’ judgment accuracy in different subdomains (within-person comparisons). Findings support the notion that teachers’ judgment accuracy of student achievement is domain-specific with respect to the investigated subdomains. Practical implications for the promotion of teacher judgment accuracy are discussed.     

Thriving not just surviving: A review of research on teacher resilience

Retaining teachers in the early stages of the profession is a major issue of concern in many countries. Teacher resilience is a relatively recent area of investigation which provides a way of understanding what enables teachers to persist in the face of challenges and offers a complementary perspective to studies of stress, burnout and attrition. We have known for many years that teaching can be stressful, particularly for new teachers, but little appears to have changed. This paper reviews recent empirical studies related to the resilience of early career teachers. Resilience is shown to be the outcome of a dynamic relationship between individual risk and protective factors. Individual attributes such as altruistic motives and high self-efficacy are key individual protective factors. Contextual challenges or risk factors and contextual supports or protective factors can come from sources such as school administration, colleagues, and pupils. Challenges for the future are to refine conceptualisations of teacher resilience and to develop and examine interventions in multiple contexts. There are many opportunities for those who prepare, employ and work with prospective and new teachers to reduce risk factors and enhance protective factors and so enable new teachers to thrive, not just survive.     

Multidimensional analyzing of the microteaching applications in teacher education via videograph

Microteaching is a practice – based teaching method that can be applied at various stages in teacher training programs and it gives the opportunity to engage in self-evaluation and to eliminate or correct inadequacies of both pre-service and in-service teachers. It is believed that this study is important in determining the inadequacies of prospective teachers through microteaching applications, and in determining the steps to be taken to eliminate the inadequacies. Therefore, this study aims to exhibit prospective teachers’ individual, methodological and social performances through two microteaching applications. It is found from this research that prospective teachers’ discipline over the classroom developed, and students’ motivation and their interest in the lesson increased with reinforcement and effective communication in the second microteaching application. This showed that feedback given at the end of the first microteaching application was effective.     

A two-process model of metacognitive monitoring: Evidence for general accuracy and error factors

We examined the latent structure of metacognitive monitoring judgments using hierarchical confirmatory factor analysis to compare five competing theoretical models with respect to domain-specific versus domain-general monitoring processes. We expected our results to support a domain-general monitoring model. Of the five models, the domain general monitoring model provided the best fit. In this model, level-1 domain-specific accuracy and error factors for each of the three tests loaded on second-order domain-general accuracy and error factors, which then loaded on a third-order general monitoring factor. This model suggest that metacognitive monitoring consists of two different types of cognitive processes, one that is associated with accurate monitoring judgments, and one that is associated with error in monitoring judgments. We discuss the theoretical and practical instructional implications of our findings.     

A multifaceted approach to teacher induction

The purpose of this study was to determine the implementation and effectiveness of the components of two middle school induction programs through the perceptions of three participant groups – new teachers, mentor teachers, and principals. Effectiveness was defined as a systematic processes embedded in a healthy school climate that met new teachers' personal and professional needs. Data indicated that each element of the induction program – principal and new teacher interaction; mentor teachers; collaborative structures; professional development; and new teacher orientation – met different needs of the new teacher. This multifaceted approach appeared to effectively support new teachers.     

A review of research exploring teacher preparation for the digital age

ABSTRACT

Digital technologies and the Internet are increasing in prominence in schooling systems. As schools and teaching evolve as a result of the integration of technologies teacher preparation will also change. This paper examines research exploring the preparation of teachers for the digital age through a systematic literature review of articles published between 2008 and 2018. The findings provide insight into what has and has not been studied across a range of literature and the alignment with the broader context of digital integration in schools. A focus on digital competencies was identified which was framed in three ways across the literature; generic digital competence, digital teaching competence and an emerging concept of professional digital competence. How student teachers learn to engage in the professional work of a teacher in a digitally infused education system should underpin future research. A model of professional digital competence is proposed.     

The impact of teacher immediacy and perceived caring on teacher competence and trustworthiness

This research investigated the impact of teacher caring and teacher immediacy on student perceptions of teachers' credibility. While the results of the two studies conducted indicated the presence of strong main effects for teacher caring and immediacy and strong negative effects for teacher non‐caring and nonimmediacy on the various dimensions of teacher credibility (as hypothesized), significant interaction effects were observed between caring and nonimmediacy on both dimensions of credibility studied (competence and trustworthiness). In most cases, when teacher caring was low, whether the teacher was in the immediate or nonimmediate condition made no significant difference—both produced negative perceptions of teacher credibility. In contrast, when teacher caring was high, teacher nonimmediacy significantly lowered perceived credibility. Probing of the interaction results suggested that high verbal caring tends to soften the negative impact of teacher nonimmediacy. The results of these studies demonstrate that teachers should maintain high verbal caring to preserve their credibility in the classroom. Implications for teacher training and suggestions for future research are discussed.     

Alternative forms of teacher hiring in developing countries and its implications: A review of literature

Faced with teacher shortage, and limited budgets several developing countries have accepted lower certification and education requirements, eliminated teacher tenure, and curtailed teacher salary to fill vacant teaching positions. Teachers hired in this manner are often known as ‘contract teachers’. A survey of the literature reveals that these practices have created a parallel cadre of undertrained, underpaid, often younger, inexperienced teachers hired locally on contract basis. These practices are viewed favorably from access, cost-savings and local-accountability perspectives. Yet scholars raise concerns that this form of teacher hiring may not be sustainable, may negatively impact educational equity from the perspective of teacher distribution, teacher morale and the professional status of teaching.     

Educating the teacher educator—A Ugandan case study

Who educates teacher educators? How are teacher educators educated and prepared for their roles and tasks? This article uses a review of a two-year full-time Diploma in Teacher Education (DTE) for teacher educators in Uganda to engage with these questions. The article begins with a presentation of the Ugandan teacher education context and a literature review, focusing mainly on teacher educator knowledge, preparation, roles and tasks. It then presents the review process and discusses the main findings that emerged, exploring their implications for the education of teacher educators in Uganda and internationally. The main implications concern the critical role of teacher education pedagogy, context, teacher educator knowledge, tasks and roles, reflective practice, practitioner research, and the background, capacities and education of the educator of teacher educators.     

A systematic review of teacher roles and competences for teaching synchronously online through videoconferencing technology

As a growing number of educational institutions are offering online programs, teachers need to be competent in this new way of teaching. This is especially the case for synchronous online learning through videoconferencing technology, an emergent and so far understudied form of online education. Based on a systematic literature review of 30 studies, this study identifies 24 competence clusters, which can be grouped into 5 teacher roles associated with synchronous online teaching through videoconferencing: the instructional, managerial, technical, communicational, and social role. This framework can act as a starting point for future research on this understudied topic and can also provide directions to support teachers’ professionalization and practice.