Impacts of teachers'expectation on student achievement

For academic learning processes to be effective, teachers’ professional competence is essential. It is composed of cognitive abilities (professional knowledge) as well as professional convictions and values (e.g. teacher’s beliefs). There are a few studies about teachers’ professional competencies, especially about teachers’ professional knowledge and its impact on instructional quality and/or students’ achievement. Though as of today, there is less empirical evidence regarding the impact of non-cognitive aspects such as underlying beliefs. Teachers’ expectation concerning students’ achievement can be classified as a special form of teachers’ beliefs. Thus expectations are belonging to the non-cognitive aspects of teachers’ professional competence and are therefore important for instructional quality and students’ achievement. Since Rosenthal and Jacobson investigated the Pygmalion effect in 1968, it has been replicated and confirmed by other authors. But we don’t know how important it is in addition to the teacher’ professional knowledge. Within the context of the longitudinal study Outcomes of Teacher Education (German: Wirkungen der Lehrerbildung, WiL), a Swiss extension of the international comparative study TEDS-M, we build on these assumptions and investigate the expectancy effect controlling for professional knowledge. The analyses are based on answers of 30 primary teachers and 548 students. Keywords: expectancy effect, multilevel modeling, mathematic achievement Extendend summary 986 words (600-1000 words) Theoretical Background and Aims For academic learning processes to be effective, teachers’ professional competence is essential. It is composed of cognitive abilities (professional knowledge) as well as professional convictions and values (e.g. teacher’s beliefs) (Kunter, Baumert, Blum, Klusmann, Krauss & Neubrand, 2011). There are a few studies about teachers’ professional competencies, especially about teachers’ professional knowledge and its impact on instructional quality and/or students’ achievement (Hill, Rowan & Loewenberg Ball, 2005; Brühwiler & Blatchford, 2011; Kunter et al., 2011; Lenske et al., 2016). Though as of today, there is less empirical evidence concerning the impact of non-cognitive aspects such as underlying beliefs. Teachers’ expectation regarding students’ achievement can be classified as a special form of teachers’ beliefs. Expectations are future-oriented beliefs (Ludwig, 1991; Hanisch, 1992; Kunter & Pohlmann, 2015) – in this case they describe the student’s expected progress during one school year. Thus expectations are belonging to the non-cognitive aspects of teachers’ professional competence and are therefore important for instructional quality and students’ achievement. Since Rosenthal and Jacobson investigated the Pygmalion effect in 1968, it has been replicated and confirmed by other authors (e.g. Rosenthal & Rubin, 1978; Rubie-Davies, Peterson, Sibley & Rosenthal, 2015). Though, the expectancy effect has not been thoroughly reviewed in the context of multilevel models. Without taking into account the hierarchical structure of the data (students situated in classrooms), the effect may be overrated (e.g. Friedrich, Flunger, Nagengast, Jonkmann & Trautwein, 2015). Expectations influence how teachers handle their students (Finn, 1972). But how do teachers communicate these expectations to their students? They pay more attention and support students, when they have higher achievement related expectations. In many cases, such students were selected to answer questions asked (Hanisch, 1992). Consequently, the students able to differentiate teachers’ expectations based on their behavior. Against this background we address the following research questions: 1. Does teachers’ professional knowledge correlate with the teachers’ expectations? 2. What is the impact of the teachers’ expectations controlling the teachers’ professional knowledge on students’ achievement in mathematics? Methodology The analyses are based on data extracted from the longitudinal study Outcome of Teacher Education (German translation: Wirkungen der Lehrerbildung, WiL) an extension of TEDS-M (Tatto et al., 2012) which is funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation. The longitudinal design entails two measurement points for the students’ achievement in mathematics (beginning and end of the school year). The students’ mathematical knowledge level was measured through standardized tests. The teachers’ professional knowledge was measured with the test design used in TEDS-M at the beginning of the school year. The teachers’ expectation is based on students’ perception about the teachers’ expectation and can be split of into three dimensions: (1) expectation about motivation (e.g. “Our mathematics teacher expects me to participate well during class.”) (2) expectation about confidence (e.g. “Our mathematics teacher is confident that I am able handle to difficult tasks.”) (3) expectation about learning efficiency (e.g. “Our mathematics teacher takes care that I perform well.”) (see table 1). A confirmatory factor analyses (CFA) confirmed this theoretical assumption. The sample includes 30 primary teachers and 548 students in Switzerland. Considering the given hierarchical structure of the data (students situated in classrooms), multilevel modelling is used to analyze the data. Findings First results show that there are correlations between the professional knowledge and the teachers’ expectations. Controlling professional knowledge, the most important dimension for students’ achievement is the teachers’ expectation about the students’ confidence (? = .15; p < .001). Significance of the Research The findings of this study extend the empirical evidence concerning the correlation between aspects of professional competence and the impact of teachers’ expectation in addition to professional knowledge.