Expectations of teachers and education students for academic achievement among middle and lower class children

Adams, Ford (1979) Expectations of teachers and education students for academic achievement among middle and lower class children. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This study investigated the effects of student socio-economic status on teacher expectancy. Specifically, student academic achievement was used as evidence of differential teacher expectancy for students of lower and middle socio-economic status. Teacher experience was studied and differential effects on teacher assessment of students of differing social classes were examined. Also, the study investigated the interactive effects of teacher assessment of student academic performance. -- Two hypothetical children, alike in all respects except socio-economic status, were described and presented to education students and experienced teachers. The children were given identical performance levels on a Social Studies quiz and teachers (both education students and experienced teachers) were asked to grade that performance. In a two-by-two experimental design, the education students were divided into two groups of 30 and each group was treated with a different socio-economic status description. The same procedure was carried out for the experienced teachers. -- The results of an analysis of variance confirmed the presence of a teacher bias for students of different socio-economic status when student performance is assessed. Students of lower socio-economic status were given lower grades than those of middle socio-economic status. A biasing effect was also found for teacher experience in that more experienced teachers gave lower grades than less experienced teachers. A study of the interactive effect of teacher experience and student social status failed to show significant results.

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