Teacher Expectations and Student Performance

Back in 1964, Harvard professor, Robert Rosenthal, conducted a seminal experiment in elementary school education. He told teachers that they had a number of students in their class who, based on a “test” he administered, were on the “verge of an intense intellectual bloom”. The result of this experiment was the students—who had a normal bell curve range of IQs—saw their IQs increase.

The reason: As Rosenthal did more and more research, he saw the strong correlation between teachers’ expectations of their students and student performance. Rosenthal found that when teachers expected their students to succeed, they provided in their classrooms more time for students to answer questions, more specific feedback, and more approval and positive reinforcement (e.g., frequently smiling at students).

Obviously, teacher expectations alone do not guarantee student success, but it is a reminder how important they are.

When I first began teaching, I played on a softball team, which included a few teachers. One teammate was also a middle school English teacher; he taught in a public school in Brooklyn and was a 15-year veteran teacher. I was just starting my career and worked in a private school. I still remember him complaining about his students, their laziness and their inability and unwillingness to perform in the classroom. At one point after I asked him about what he taught, he just laughed and said, “Nothing. A good day for me is when a fight doesn’t break out in my class or in the lunchroom.”

While I never taught in (or even visited) his Brooklyn public school, Dave to me is nevertheless an example of a teacher who had no belief in his students. Perhaps he had been hardened by a frustrating and challenging educational environment, yet his attitude and cynical view of his students precluded success for any of his students.

Recent research, particularly at the University of Virginia, is trying to help teachers improve and enhance their expectations of their students. While the traditional way to do this has been simply to talk to teachers abut the importance of believing in their students, this research reveals that helping teachers foster positive classroom behaviors in the classroom (in other words how teachers interact with students) is far more efficient.

For example, if a teacher believes that boys are by nature disruptive in the classroom, he/she needs help in how to deal with an energetic boy rather than have discussions about how to overcome his/her stereotype of boys being disruptive. (We learn through cognitive dissonance but it’s a long process to change our beliefs rather than out actions.)

So, when a boy blurts out an answer in class, the teacher allows the student to explain his answer before reminding the boy about classroom rules and the need to raise his hand, etc. In this manner the boy does not become frustrated and--in the extreme--emotionally disengaged.

In his seminal work, Rosenthal identified 7 ways teachers can change their expectations: watch, listen, engage, experiment, meet, reach out, and reflect. (For details of each, see below). I wish 25 years ago I had shared these with my softball teammate.

------------

Watch how each student interacts. How do they prefer to engage? What do they seem to like to do? Observe so you can understand all they are capable of.

Listen. Try to understand what motivates them, what their goals are and how they view you, their classmates and the activities you assign them.

Engage. Talk with students about their individual interests. Don’t offer advice or opinions—just listen.

Experiment. Change how you react to challenging behaviors. Rather than responding quickly in the moment, take a breath. Realize that their behavior might just be a way of reaching out to you.

Meet. Each week, spend time with students outside your role as “teacher”. Let the students choose a game or other non-academic activity they’d like to do with you. You job is to not teach but watch, listen, and narrate what you see, focusing on students’ interests ands what they do well. This type of activity is really important for student with whom you often feel in conflict or who you avoid.

Reach out. Know what your students like to do outside of school. Make it a project for them to tell you about it using some medium in which they feel comfortable with: music, video, writing, etc. Find both individual and group time for them to share this with you. Watch and listen to how skilled, motivated, and interested they can be. Now think about school through their eyes.

Reflect. Think back on your own best and worst teachers. List five words for each that describe how you felt in your interactions with them. How did the best and worst make you feel? What specifically did they do or say that made you feel that way? Now think about how your students would describe you. Write down how they might describe you and why. How do your expectations or beliefs shape how they look at you? Are there parallels in your beliefs and their responses to you?