Teachers' explicit expectations and implicit prejudiced attitudes to educational achievement: Relations with student achievement and the ethnic achievement gap

In this paper, we consider whether teachers' explicit and implicit prejudiced attitudes underlie the ethnic achievement gap. To date, most research on teacher expectation effects has relied on explicit expectation measures that are prone to social desirability biases. In contrast, we examine the effects of teachers' (a) explicit ethnicity-based expectations for academic achievement and (b) implicit prejudiced attitudes about academic achievement on students' actual academic success over time. A total of 38 teachers completed both a traditional teacher expectation measure and a modified Implicit Association Task designed to assess ethnic stereotypes associated with academic achievement and failure. A multi-level analytic framework showed that students in classrooms of teachers with high expectations performed better in reading at the end of the year and that these effects were found across all ethnic groups. In contrast, whereas students' mathematics achievement scores were largely unrelated to teachers' explicit expectations, teachers' implicit prejudiced attitudes predicted student performance. Specifically, students benefited most academically when their teachers' implicit biases favored the ethnic group to which the student belonged. Findings are discussed in relation to differences in the salience of teachers' expectations and implicit prejudiced attitude in the classroom, and the ethnic achievement gap.     

Developmental trajectories of children's educational expectations in China: Contributions of academic achievement and maternal expectations

This longitudinal study examined the overall and heterogeneous developmental trajectories of children's educational expectations and the effects of children’'s previous academic achievements and maternal educational expectations on these trajectories. The educational expectations of 3868 Chinese children (1839 girls; M_age = 9.42 ± 0.52) were investigated six times from the 4th to 6th grades. Children's previous academic achievement and maternal educational expectations were also collected during the first wave. The results showed that Chinese children's educational expectations generally increased in middle childhood and could be categorized into four classes: high stable-increasing, low stable-increasing, low quickly-increasing, and high quickly-decreasing. Furthermore, maternal educational expectations have the greatest influence on the initial level of children's educational expectations, whereas previous academic achievement has the greatest impact on the increasing rate of children's expectations. In addition, both factors contribute to classifying children into a high-stable increasing class in comparison to the other three classes. The findings indicate that Chinese children increase their educational expectations in middle childhood and continually adapt their expectations mainly based on their previous achievements. These findings could advance our understanding of the development of children’s educational expectations in the middle childhood period and provide educational practitioners with prospective factors to increase children’s educational expectations.     

教育期望中的社会阶层差:父母的社会地位和子女教育期望的关系

To achieve the overall goals and purposes of education is closely related to the living environments of students. Different family backgrounds will put children into a situation where they face unfair competition. According to a survey conducted in China’s Urumqi and Changchun about parents’ awareness of educating their children, this paper will suggest that families with different backgrounds have different expectations for their children’s education. Moreover, it suggests that parents’ social status is related to their children’s education expectations. Therefore, we can find that parents’ social status influences their children’s education, and their positions in social class are related to education. __________ Translated from Qinghua Daxue Jiaoyu Yanjiu 清华大学教育研究 (Tsinghua Journal of Education), 2006, (4): 71–76     

Low expectations equal no expectations: Aspirations,motivation, and achievement in secondary school

Underachievement and failure to complete school have long-term negative consequences for students. Aspirations regarding completion of secondary school that predict achievement outcomes are related to factors amenable to intervention. This study investigates relationships between academic achievement and self-reported educational aspirations, motivation, affiliation with peers and teachers, and attributions. Survey participants were 5369 Year 10 and Year 11 students at 19 nationally representative secondary schools in New Zealand, and available achievement records were sourced for 2439 Year 11 students. Survey data were factor analyzed followed by further examination of relationships across demographic factors, self-reported aspirations, motivational factors (Doing My Best and Doing Just Enough), attributions, and interpersonal affiliations (Teacher and Peer). For Year 11 students, relationships between different factors and subsequent achievement were also analyzed. Students who indicated no aspiration to complete a school qualification were indistinguishable from those with low or moderate aspirations, and the analyses supported only two divergent groups comprising students with either low or high aspirations to complete qualifications. Aspirations were significantly related to different patterns of motivation, affiliation, and attributions predictive of academic achievement. Students of different ethnicity and gender also fell unequally across the two groups. These results suggest that promoting low or even moderate expectations and aspirations for student achievement may actually reinforce lower academic achievement. Instead, teachers and schools should communicate high expectations to prevent school failure and effective interventions to enhance student outcomes.     

Poisoning the mind: Arsenic contamination of drinking water wells and children's educational achievement in rural Bangladesh

Bangladesh has experienced the largest mass poisoning of a population in history owing to contamination of groundwater with naturally occurring inorganic arsenic. Prolonged drinking of such water risks development of diseases and therefore has implications for children's cognitive and psychological development. This study examines the effect of arsenic contamination of tubewells, the primary source of drinking water at home, on the learning outcome of school-going children in rural Bangladesh using recent nationally representative data on secondary school children. We unambiguously find a negative and statistically significant correlation between mathematics scores and arsenic-contaminated drinking tubewells at home, net of the child's socio-economic status, parental background and school specific unobserved correlates of learning. Similar correlations are found for an alternative measure of student achievement and subjective well-being (i.e. self-reported measure of life satisfaction), of the student. We conclude by discussing the policy implication of our findings in the context of the current debate over the adverse effect of arsenic poisoning on children.     

Socio-economic status has major effects on math achievement,educational aspirations and future job expectations of elementary school children in Thailand

This study was designed to investigate the effects of specific variables on the math achievement of 5th-grade children. It involved a random sample of 373 families (parents and children) from a larger pool of 685 families residing in Bangkok, Thailand. We utilized Walberg's productivity model by analyzing the interconnections among a diverse set of family prcesse, family structure, and SES variables within the home environment section of the model. Campbell's differential socialization paradigm was used to analyze the gender differences. The results of the study show that certain family processes (support and intellectual resources) had positive effects on math achievement, while other processes (excessive pressure and help) had negtive effects. Another key finding is that Walberg's home environment factor was found to contain a mix of SES, family structure variables, and family processes. These variables have strong effects on children's overall academic achievement, academic self-concepts, and math achievement. The SES variables were found to be especially important in Thailand. The authors propose the establishment of parent training programs, particularly for low SES families, as a way to increase children's math achievement, aspirations, and future job expectations.     

A causal analysis relating previous achievement,attitudes, discourse,and intervention to achievement in biology and chemistry

This study described the relationship of 38 variates to achievement in high school biology and chemistry classes. Forty-four teachers prepared audio tape recordings of discussions throughout a nine-month period. Equal-sized groups received treatment consisting of wait time feedback and/or supportive intervention, a form of peer coaching. Other variables were initial measures, which included the variates of class size and previous science grade, pre- and posttest scores on student attitudes and perceptions, and prediscourse and discourse analyses, which included the variates of wait times, actions, and response durations. While previous research has shown that wait time feedback and supportive intervention are effective means of changing teacher behavior, the results of the present study revealed that previous student achievement and the attitudes of students accounted for 70% of the variation in the final examination scores (New York State Regents) on the basis of only the first three weeks of data collection on the variables assessed. Generally, little emphasis on higher-level thinking, wait time, or problem solving was found at the beginning of the school year, and only minimal changes resulted from the application of the treatment variables. Pressures for content coverage and preparation for externally imposed statewide examinations that emphasize memory-level learning augured against the changes that the independent variables were designed to produce.     

Self-fulfilling prophecies in the classroom: Teacher expectations,teacher feedback and student achievement

This study investigated the link between teacher expectations and student learning, relying on longitudinal data from 64 classrooms and 1026 first-grade students in Germany. Further, based on a subsample of 19 classrooms with 354 students, we explored the mediating role of three characteristics of teacher feedback rated in video-recorded school lessons. The results showed that teacher expectations were inaccurate to some extent; that is, they did not entirely agree with students' current achievement, general cognitive abilities and motivations. In addition, this inaccuracy in teacher expectations significantly predicted students’ end-of-year achievement, even after prior achievement, general cognitive abilities, motivation, and student background characteristics were considered. Specifically, inaccurately high teacher expectations were associated with greater achievement in reading and mathematics, whereas inaccurately low teacher expectations were associated with lower achievement in reading only. Furthermore, teacher feedback varied significantly with inaccurate teacher expectations but did not substantially mediate teacher expectancy effects.     

学习动机与多媒体网络课堂环境下的小学生学业成就关系的研究

多媒体网络环境创设了学习者控制的学习环境,对学习者的自我调控学习能力提出了更高的要求和挑战,要求学习者较强的学习动机,以获得良好的学业成就。本文研究了网络班学生的学习动机和语文学业成就的关系,认为在多媒体网络课堂环境下,小学生的学习动机和学业成就具有显著的积极影响,其中内部动机和学业成就具有较高的一致性,外部动机中的成就型动机对学业成就也有积极的作用,但表面型动机呈不显著的负相关。基于这一结论,本文最后对多媒体课堂网络环境下的教学提出了若干建议。     

Dilemmas of difference and the identification of special educational needs/disability: International perspectives

This article reports findings from an international study about dilemmas of difference in relation to special educational needs and disability in education. It was part of a larger study of the perspectives of 132 education practitioners and policy makers in England, the USA and the Netherlands to a range of dilemmas of difference. It also compares these current perspectives with ones from similar groups in England and the USA from the early 1990s. Participants were interviewed about their perspectives on a presented dilemma about the consequences of identifying children as having a disability or a special educational need. The data are presented in quantitative terms (degrees of recognition and resolution of dilemma) and qualitative terms (reasons, justifications and suggested resolutions). The findings show variations in responses to the dilemma that relate to national differences, but also commonalities in the recognition of this dilemma, reasons for recognising and ways of resolving the dilemma.     

Washback to the learner: Learner and teacher perspectives on IELTS preparation course expectations and outcomes

The washback effect of tests on teaching has attracted considerable attention over recent years, but the critical question of how this translates into washback on learning remains under-explored. To address this issue, questionnaires relating to academic writing instruction were distributed to 108 learners from mainland China preparing for university study in the UK, either through studying for the IELTS test or through courses in English for Academic Purposes that did not include IELTS preparation. The same 24 questions were put to learners at course entry and at course exit and the results compared between courses and between occasions. The questions were also given to 39 teachers on IELTS and non-IELTS courses and their responses weighed against those from students. The results indicate that learner perceptions of course outcomes are affected by the course focus reported by teachers, but that the relationship is not deterministic. Although test preparation courses, as predicted by washback theory, did appear to cover a relatively narrow range of skills, there is evidence here that narrow preparation strategies were not driven primarily by learner expectations.     

Self-regulation of homework behaviour: relating grade,gender, and achievement to homework management

Abstract

The present investigation linked grade, gender, and maths achievement to homework management strategies using data from 305 Chinese students in grades 7, 8, and 9. These strategies included arranging the environment, managing time, handling distraction, monitoring motivation, and controlling potentially interfering emotion. A three-way MANOVA examined the effects of grade, gender, and maths achievement on homework management strategies. Grade or gender was not related to homework management strategies. Meanwhile, high-achieving students (compared with low-achieving students) were more likely to arrange the environment, manage time, handle distraction, monitor motivation, and control negative emotion.     

Motivation and ability: which students use online learning and what influence does it have on their achievement?

There has been much recent research examining online learning in universities, but two questions seem to have been largely overlooked in this context: (1) Which students voluntarily utilise web‐based learning; and (2) Does this use influence their academic achievement? The current study aimed to determine whether the approaches to studying, ability, age, and gender of 110 undergraduates in the second year of a psychology degree predicted the extent to which they utilised online learning using Web Course Tools (WebCT) in support of a core Biological Psychology unit. Data were obtained from WebCT's student tracking system, Entwistle and Ramsden's 18‐item Approaches to Studying Inventory (1983) and academic records. Multiple linear regressions and discriminant function analysis were used to examine whether individual differences predicted WebCT use, while analysis of covariance determined whether web use influenced academic achievement. The number of hits, length of access, and use of the bulletin board was predicted by age, with older students using WebCT more. These factors were also influenced by ability and achievement orientation. The degree of participation in self‐assessment was not predicted by student variables, but, of those that repeated an online quiz, improvement was more likely in those with lower achievement orientation. Only bulletin board use influenced achievement, with those posting messages outperforming those not using, or passively using bulletin boards. However, because individual differences will determine the extent to which students utilise this facility, it is suggested that future research should focus on developing online learning environments that incorporate activities with both a beneficial influence on learning and appeal to a wide student population.     

Science on Saturday Morning: children's perceptions of science in educational and non‐educational cartoons

The Federal Communications Commission is considering whether to strengthen the implementation of the Children's Television Act of 1990, which requires broadcasters to air educational and informational programs for children. Some broadcasters have opposed such measures, arguing that not enough children will watch educational programs. This argument assumes that children distinguish between educational and non‐educational programs, find educational programs less appealing, and consequently are unlikely to watch them. The present study tests these assumptions directly, through a comparison of two animated programs set in prehistoric times, Cro (an educational program about technology) and The Flintstones (a non‐educational program). Results indicated that Cro’s technology content was salient to children but, contrary to the above assumptions, children did not distinguish between the programs on the basis of their educational content, and both programs were highly appealing.     

A meta‐analysis of the relationship between student attitudes towards reading and achievement in reading

A meta‐analysis of the relationship between attitudes in reading and achievement in reading was conducted to provide a statistical summary to the observed variability in the magnitude of previously reported effect sizes. A total of 32 studies, with a total sample size of 224,615 were used, and included a total of 118 effect sizes. A multi‐level approach was used in meta‐analysis to determine if variance in the magnitude of effect sizes could be partitioned to study (level 1) and moderator (level 2) levels by using a mixed model approach. Results from the meta‐analysis indicated that the mean strength of the relationship between reading attitudes and achievement is moderate (Z_r=.32), while stronger for students in elementary school (Z_r=.44) when compared with middle school students (Z_r=.24). Findings related to selected moderator variables are discussed, with suggestions for future research.