The Definition and Measurement of Teacher Expectations: Problems and Prospects
Keywords:
teacher expectations, student achievement, teacher judgment, classroom researchAbstract
According to the teacher expectation hypothesis, teacher expectations of pupils determine, in part, the pupil's actual level of performance. There continues to be great interest in this hypothesis as reflected in the numerous theoretical and empirical developments which have appeared in the literature. The thesis of this paper, however, is that there are weaknesses associated with conceptualizing the teacher expectation variable and with treatments of the variable in research. This thesis is supported through a review of efforts to develop a teacher expectancy construct and an examination of treatments of the expectancy variable in past research. The article concludes with a set of recommendations regarding the treatment of the expectation variable in future research on the teacher expectancy hypothesis.
References
Achenbach, T. M., & Edelbrock, C. S. The classification of child psychopathology: A review and analysis of empirical efforts. Psychological Bulletin, 1978, 85, 1275-1301.
Babad, E. Y., & Inbar, J. Performance and personality correlates of teachers' susceptibility to biasing information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1981, 40, 553-561.
Babad, E. Y., Inbar, J., & Rosenthal, R. Teachers' judgment of students' potential as a function of teachers' susceptibility to biasing information. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1982, 42, 541-547.
Babad, Inbar, & Rosenthal, R. Pygmalion, Galatea, and the Golem: Investigations of biases and unbiased teachers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1982, 74, 459-474.
Baker, J. P., & Crist, J. L. Teacher expectations: A review of the literature. In J. D. Elashoff & R. E. Snow (Eds.), Pygmalion Reconsidered. Worthington, Ohio: Charles A. Jones, 1971.
Beady, C. H., & Hansell, S. Teacher race and expectations for student achievement. American Educational Research Journal, 1981, 18, 191-206.
Bognar, C. J. Teacher expectations and student characteristics. Canadian Journal of Education, 1983, 8, 47-56.
Braun, C. Teacher expectation: Sociopsychological dynamics. Review of Educational Research, 1976, 46, 185-213.
Brophy, J. E., & Good, T. L. Teachers' communication of differential expectations for children's classroom performance: Some behavioral data. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1970, 61, 365-376.
Brophy, J. E., & Good, T. L. Teacher-student relationships: Causes and consequences. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1974.
Brophy, J., Evertson, C., Harris, T., & Good, T. Communication of teacher expectations: Fifth grade. Report No. 93, Research and Development Center for Teacher Education, University of Texas at Austin, 1973.
Carew, J., & Lightfoot, S. Beyond bias: Perspectives on classrooms. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1979.
Clark, C. M., & Yinger, R. J. Research on teacher thinking. Report No. 12, Institute for Research on Teaching, Michigan State University, 1978.
Clifton, R. A. The effects of students' ethnicity and sex on the expectations of teachers. Interchange, 1981a, 12, 31-38.
Clifton, R. A. Ethnicity, teachers' expectations, and the academic achievement process in Canada. Sociology of Education, 1981b, 54, 291-301.
Clifton, R. A., Perry, R. P., Parsonson, K., & Hruniuk, S. Ethnicity and sex differences in teachers' expectations of junior high school students. Paper presented at Annual Meeting of the Canadian Psychological Association, Winnipeg, 1983.
Cooper, H. M. Controlling personal rewards: Professional teachers' differential use of feedback and the effects of feedback on the students motivation to perform. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1977, 69, 419-427.
Cooper, H. Intervening in expectation communication: The "alterability" of teacher expectations. Report No. 122, Center for Research in Social Behavior, University of Missouri, 1978.
Cooper, H. M. Pygmalion grows up: A model for teacher expectation communication and performance influence. Review of Educational Research, 1979a, 49, 389-410.
Cooper, H. M. Some effects of preperformance information on academic expectations. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1979b, 71, 375-380.
Cooper, H. M. Communication of teacher expectations to students. In J. M. Levine & M. C. Wang (Eds.), Teacher and student perceptions: Implications for learning. Hillsdale, NJ., Lawrence Erlbaum Associates: 1983.
Cooper, H. M., & Baron, R. M. Academic expectations and attributed responsibility as predictors of professional teachers' reinforcement behaviors. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1977, 69, 409-418.
Cooper, H. M., & Baron, R. M. Academic expectations, attributed responsibility, and teachers' reinforcement behavior: A suggested integration of conflicting literatures. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1979, 71, 274-277.
Cooper, H. M., & Burger, J. M. How teachers explain students' academic performance: A categorization of free response academic attributions. American Educational Research Journal, 1980, 17, 95-109.
Cooper, H. M., Findley, M., & Good, T. Relations between student achievement and various indexes of teacher expectations. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1982, 74, 577-579.
Cooper, H. M., Hinkel, G. M., & Good, T. L. Teachers' beliefs about interaction control and their observed behavioral correlates. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1980, 72, 345-354.
Cornbleth, C., Davis, O. L., & Button, C. Expectations for pupil achievement and teacher-pupil interaction. Social Education, 1974, 38, 54-58.
Crano, W. D., & Mellon, P. M. Causal influence of teachers' expectations on children's academic performance: A cross-lagged panel analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1978, 70, 39-49.
Cronbach, L. J. Test validation. In R. L. Thorndike (Ed.), Educational measurement (2nd ed.). Washington, D. C.: American Council on Education, 1971.
Cronbach, L. J., & Meehl, P. E. Construct validity in psychological tests. Psychological Bulletin, 1955, 52, 281-302.
Doyle, W., Hancock, G., & Kifer, E. Teachers' perceptions: Do they make a difference? Journal of the Association for the Study of Perception, 1972, 7, 21-30.
Dusek, J. B. Do teachers bias children's learning? Review of Educational Research, 1975, 45, 661-684.
Dusek, J. B., & Joseph, G. The bases of teacher expectancies: A meta-analysis. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1983, 75, 327-346.
Dusek, J. B., & O'Connell, E. J. Teacher expectancy effects on the achievement test performance of elementary school children. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1973, 65, 371-377.
Ebmeier, H., & Good, T. L. The effects of instructing teachers about good teaching on the mathematics achievement of fourth grade students. American Educational Research Journal, 1979, 16, 1-16.
Evertson, C., Brophy, J., & Good, T. L. Communication of teacher expectations: First grade. Report No. 91, Research and Development Center for Teacher Education, University of Texas at Austin, 1972.
Fleming, E., & Anttonen, R. Teacher expectancy or My Fair Lady. American Educational Research Journal, 1971, 8, 241-252.
Garner, J., & Bing, M. The elusiveness of Pygmalion and differences in teacher-pupil contacts. Interchange, 1973, 4, 34-42.
Goldsmith, J., & Fry, E. The test of a high expectancy prediction on reading achievements and IQ of students in grade 10. Unpublished manuscript cited in Baker and Crist. Teacher expectation: A review of the literature, 1971.
Good, T. L. Which pupils do teachers call on? Elementary School Journal, 1970, 70, 190-198.
Good, T. L. Classroom expectations: Teacher-pupil interactions. In J. H. McMillan (Ed.), The social psychology of school learning. New York: Academic Press, 1980.
Good, T. L., & Brophy, J. E. Looking in classrooms. New York: Harper and Row, 1973.
Good, T. L., & Brophy, J. E. Educational psychology: A realistic approach (2nd ed.). New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1980.
Good, T. L., Cooper, H. M., & Blakey, S. L. Classroom interaction as a function of teacher expectations, student sex, and time of year. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1980, 72, 378-385.
Good, T. L., Sikes, J. N., & Brophy, J. E. Effects of teacher sex and student sex on classroom interaction. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1973, 65, 74-87.
Haigh, N. J. Teacher expectancy: Accuracy, change and communication. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies, 1974, 9, 97-112.
Hoge, R. D. Psychometric properties of teacher judgment measures of pupil aptitudes, classroom behaviors, and achievement levels. Journal of Special Education, forthcoming.
Jose, J., & Cody, J. Teacher-pupil interaction as it relates to attempted changes in teacher expectancy of academic ability and achievement. American Educational Research Journal, 1971, 8, 39-50.
Kedar-Voivodas, G., & Tennenbaum, A. J. Teachers' attitudes toward young deviant children. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1979, 71, 800-808.
King, L. H. Student thought processes and the expectancy effect. Research Report #80-1-8, Faculty of Education, The University of Alberta, 1980.
Kohn, M. Social competence, symptoms and underachievement in childhood: A longitudinal perspective. New York: John Wiley, 1977.
Lambert, N. M., & Nicoll, R. C. Conceptual model for nonintellectual behavior and its relationship to early reading achievement. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1977, 69, 481-490.
Luce, S. R., & Hoge, R. D. Relations among teacher rankings, pupil-teacher interactions, and academic achievement: A test of the teacher-expectancy hypothesis. American Educational Research Journal, 1978, 15, 489-500.
Mendels, G., & Flanders, J. P. Teachers' expectations and pupil performance. American Educational Research Journal, 1973, 10, 203-212.
Messick, S. The standard problem: Meaning and values in measurement and evaluation. American Psychologist, 1975, 30, 955-966.
Messick, S. Constructs and their vicissitudes in educational and psychological measurement. Psychological Bulletin, 1981, 89, 575-588.
Meyer, W. U. Academic expectations, attributed responsibility, and teachers' reinforcement behavior: A comment on Cooper and Baron, with some additional data. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1979, 71, 269-273.
Morine-Dershimer, G. Teachers' conceptions of pupils - an outgrowth of instructional context: The South Bay Study, Part III. Report No. 59, Institute for Research on Teaching, Michigan State University, 1979.
Parsons, J. E., Kaczala, D. M., & Meece, J. L. Socialization of achievement attitudes and beliefs: Classroom influences. Child Development, 1982, 53, 322-339.
Quay, H. C. Classification. In H. C. Quay & J. S. Werry (Eds.), Psychopathological disorders of childhood (2nd ed.). New York: Wiley, 1979.
Rosenthal, R., & Jacobson, L. Pygmalion in the classroom: Teacher expectation and pupils' intellectual development. New York: Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1968.
Rosenthal, R., Baratz, S. S., & Hall, C. M. Teacher behavior, teacher expectations, and gains in pupils' rated creativity. The Journal of Genetic Psychology, 1974, 124, 115-121.
Ross, L. The intuitive psychologist and his shortcomings: Distortions in the attribution process. In L. Berkowitz (Ed.), Advances in experimental social psychology (Vol. 10). New York: Academic Press, 1977.
Schwarz, R. H., & Cook, S. S. Teachers' expectancy as it relates to the academic achievement of EMR students. Journal of Educational Research, 1972, 65, 393-396.
Shavelson, R. J., & Stern, P. Research on teachers' pedagogical thoughts, judgments, decisions, and behavior. Review of Educational Research, 1981, 51, 455-498.
Snow, R. Unfinished Pygmalion. Contemporary Psychology, 1969, 14, 197-199.
Sutherland, A., & Goldschmid, M. L. Negative teacher expectation and IQ change in children with superior intellectual potential. Child Development, 1974, 45, 852-856.
Weinstein, R. S. Expectations in the classroom: The student perspective. Invited Address, Division C, Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York, 1982.
Weinstein, R. S., & Middlestadt, S. E. Student perceptions of teacher interactions with male high and low achievers. Journal of Educational Psychology, 1979, 71, 421-431.
West, C. K., & Anderson, T. H. The question of preponderant causation in teacher expectancy research. Review of Educational Research, 1976, 46, 613-630.
Williams, T. Educational ambition: Teachers and students. Sociology of Education, 1975, 48, 432-456.
Williams, T. Teacher prophecies and the inheritance of inequality. Sociology of Education, 1976, 49, 223-236.
Willis, S. Formation of teachers' expectations of students' academic performance. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin, 1972.
Zanna, M. P., Sheras, P. L., Cooper, J., & Shaw, C. Pygmalion and Galatea: The interactive effect of teacher and student expectancies. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology, 1975, 11, 279-287.
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
The Canadian Journal of Education follows Creative Commons Licencing CC BY-NC-ND.
