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TE KUAKA
ISSUE 1 2014
11
Teacher Expectation Project
The expectations teachers have of their students, whether high or low, have a significant impact on student achievement. An
expectation is an idea that teachers hold about the potential achievement of students and can be relayed through a simple smile or
complex goal setting.
Research has already shown that students who have teachers with high expectations achieve at higher levels. But Associate Professor
Christine Rubie-Davies wants to know if teacher expectations can be changed, raised and sustained. Enter the Teacher Expectation
Project.
The Teacher Expectation Project (TEP) is a research study funded
by a Marsden Fast Start Grant and by the Cognition Institute.
Now, for the first time, the TEP will evaluate whether teacher
expectations can be raised and sustained. It will also measure what
affects teacher expectations and what the effects of raised teacher
expectations are on students’ academic and social outcomes.
Christine says teacher expectations for student success are
important as they determine the level and types of instruction
teachers plan for students, which ultimately impacts outcomes.
The project, which has just completed its third and final
year, has highlighted the initial key influences that affect teacher
expectations, and the student outcomes.
Several of the academics involved with the project took part in
a four-day writing retreat earlier this year to analyse the copious
data, which had been collected during the first two years of the
project. The final year’s data is still being entered.
Year One examined whether teacher expectations could be
raised after four intervention workshops in the first year
1
. Pre and
post intervention data were collected to enable investigation of
the change in teacher practice as a result of being part of the
intervention process. Changes in student achievement and beliefs
were also measured.
Year Two involved examining whether the intervention
teachers could teach the control teachers (those who had not
undergone intervention) the techniques and strategies learnt in
the four workshops. It also looked at how the intervention teachers
implemented the strategies with their own students.
An on-going purpose of the project was also to track students
and examine whether their beliefs and achievement levels were
sustained or not after they had been taught by an intervention
teacher. This was especially since students could have moved to
either new classes or schools.
Each academic involved with the project wrote a paper in
relation to their own research interests. Here is a brief summary of
some of these:
1.
See Te Kuaka Issue 3, 2012.
The effects of the intervention in
mathematics
- Associate Professor Christine Rubie-Davies
This study evaluated whether the teacher expectation interventions
in the first year of the project had more effect in some schools,
and for some student groups, than for others - specifically in
mathematics. It was the first time an intervention study in the
teacher expectation field had attempted to change teachers’
practices to those of a high expectation teacher.
The results revealed the mathematics achievement of the
students with teachers who underwent the intervention improved
substantially. Unlike other intervention studies, which target teacher
beliefs in the hopes that changing beliefs will alter teacher practice,
this study targeted teacher practice.
Overall, the findings revealed substantial positive benefits
for students who had intervention teachers across all schools, all
grades, and at all socio-economic levels. The intervention also
increased mathematics achievement for all ethnic groups and for
both genders. The study suggests that when taught the practices
of high expectation teachers, all teachers are able to raise student
achievement.
The affects of teacher and student
gender in mathematics and reading
- Dr Penny Watson
Teacher expectations can be influenced by stereotypical ideas
of gender, and are identified among factors associated with
shaping students’ academic outcomes. However, research that has
specifically explored gendered teacher expectations is sparse and
outdated. This study investigated the influence of teacher gender
on teacher expectations of student achievement, specifically in
mathematics and reading.
The findings revealed that at the beginning of the year,
male teacher expectations of their male students’ achievement
in mathematics and reading were greater than those for their
female students when school socio-economic status and student
achievement were controlled. Teacher-student gender mismatch
(Back) Penny Watson, Research assistant Mohamed Alansari,
Lynda Garrett (Front) Lyn McDonald, Annaline Flint
(Inset) Christine Rubie-Davies
