The influence of teacher expectations on student outcomes is routinely explored by professors, administrators, teachers, researchers, journalists, and scholars. Written by a leading expert on teacher expectations, this book situates the topic within the broader context of educational psychology research and theory, and brings it to a wider audience. With chapters on the history of the teacher expectation field, student perceptions of teacher expectations, and implications for practice, this concise volume is designed for use in educational psychology courses and any education course that includes social-psychological aspects of classrooms in the curriculum. It will be indispensable for student researchers and both pre- and in-service teachers alike.
We constantly hear cries from politicians for teachers to have high expectations. But what this means in practical terms is never spelled out. Simply deciding that as a teacher you will expect all your students to achieve more than other classes you have taught in the same school, is not going to translate automatically into enhanced achievement for students. Becoming a High Expectation Teacher is a book that every education student, training or practising teacher, should read. It details the beliefs and practices of high expectation teachers – teachers who have high expectations for all their students – and provides practical examples for teachers of how to change classrooms into ones in which all students are expected to learn at much higher levels than teachers may previously have thought possible. It shows how student achievement can be raised by providing both research evidence and practical examples. This book is based on the first ever intervention study in the teacher expectation area, designed to change teachers’ expectations through introducing them to the beliefs and practices of high expectation teachers. A holistic view of the classroom is emphasised whereby both the instructional and socio-emotional aspects of the classroom are considered if teachers are to increase student achievement. There is a focus on high expectation teachers, those who have high expectations for all students, and a close examination of what it is that these teachers do in their classrooms that mean that their students make very large learning gains each year. Becoming a High Expectation Teacher explores three key areas in which what high expectation teachers do differs substantially from what other teachers do: the way they group students for learning, the way they create a caring classroom community, and the way in which they use goalsetting to motivate students, to promote student autonomy and to promote mastery learning. Areas covered include:- Formation of teacher expectations Teacher personality and expectation Ability grouping and goal setting Enhancing class climate Sustaining high expectations for students Becoming a High Expectation Teacher is an essential read for any researcher, student, trainee or practicing teacher who cares passionately about the teacher-student relationship and about raising expectations and student achievement.
The myth of fixed intelligence debunked For all the productive conversation around “mindsets,” what’s missing are the details of how to convince our discouraged and underperforming students that “smart is something you can get.” Until now. With the publication of High-Expectations Teaching, Jon Saphier reveals once and for all evidence that the bell curve of ability is plain wrong—that ability is something that can be grown significantly if we can first help students to believe in themselves. In drill-down detail, Saphier provides an instructional playbook for increasing student confidence and agency in the daily flow of classroom life: Powerful strategies for attribution retraining, organized around 50 Ways to Get Students to Believe in Themselves Concrete examples, scripts, and classroom structures and routines for empowering student agency and choice Dozens of accompanying videos showing high-expectations strategies in action All children in all schools, regardless of income or social class, will benefit from the strategies in this book. But for children of poverty and children of color, our proficiency with these skills is essential . . . in many ways life saving. Jon Saphier challenges us all—educators, students, and parents—to get started today. About Jon Saphier The author of nine books, including The Skillful Teacher, Jon Saphier is founder and president of Research for Better Teaching, Inc. (RBT), a professional development organization dedicated since 1979 to improving classroom teaching and school leadership throughout the United States and internationally.
Teachers play a critical role in the success of their students, both academically and in regard to long term outcomes such as higher education participation and economic attainment. Expectations for teachers are increasing due to changing learning standards and a rapidly diversifying student population. At the same time, there are perceptions that the teaching workforce may be shifting toward a younger and less experienced demographic. These actual and perceived changes raise important questions about the ways teacher education may need to evolve in order to ensure that educators are able to meet the needs of students and provide them with classroom experiences that will put them on the path to future success. Changing Expectations for the K-12 Teacher Workforce: Policies, Preservice Education, Professional Development, and the Workplace explores the impact of the changing landscape of K-12 education and the potential for expansion of effective models, programs, and practices for teacher education. This report explores factors that contribute to understanding the current teacher workforce, changing expectations for teaching and learning, trends and developments in the teacher labor market, preservice teacher education, and opportunities for learning in the workplace and in-service professional development.
This reissue of a classic book (the first edition of which sold 50,000 copies) explores the 'Pygmalion phenomenon', the self-fulfilling prophecy embedded in teachers' expectations.
THE FINE ART OF TOUGH LOVE. If you're lucky, somewhere in your past is that one person who changed your life forever. The one who pushed you to dream bigger and to reach higher, and who set you straight on what matters in life. Perhaps it was a coach, or a professor, or a family friend. For Joanne Lipman and Melanie Kupchynsky, that person was a public-school music teacher, Jerry Kupchynsky, known as Mr. K--a Ukrainian-born taskmaster who yelled and stomped and screamed, and who drove his students harder than anyone had ever driven them before. Through sheer force of will, he made them better than they had any right to be. Strings Attached tells the inspiring, poignant, and powerful story of this remarkable man, whose life seemed to conspire against him at every turn and yet who was able to transform his own heartache into triumph for his students. Lyrically recounted by two former students -- acclaimed journalist Joanne Lipman and Mr. K's daughter, Chicago Symphony Orchestra violinist Melanie Kupchynsky -- Strings Attached takes you on a journey that spans from his days as a forced Nazi laborer and his later home life as a husband to an invalid wife, to his heart-breaking search for his missing daughter, Melanie's sister. This is an unforgettable tale -- a captivating narrative that is as absorbing as fiction -- about the power of a great teacher, but also about the legacy that remains long after the last note has faded into silence: lessons in resilience, excellence, and tough love. Strings Attached is for anyone indebted to a mentor and for those devoted to igniting excellence in others.
At the age of twenty-two, Dan Brown came to P.S. 85 as an eager, fresh-faced teacher. He was even as-signed his own class: 4-217. Unbeknownst to him, 4-217 was the designated “dumping ground” for all fourth-grade problem cases, and his students would prove to be more challenging than he could have ever anticipated. Intent on being a caring, dedicated teacher but confronted with unruly children, absent parents, and a failing administration, Dan was pushed to the limit time and again: he found himself screaming with rage, punching his fist through a blackboard out of sheer frustration, often just wanting to give up and walk away. Yet, in this seeming chaos, he slowly learned—from the more seasoned teachers at the school and from his own mistakes—how to discipline, teach, and make a difference. The Great Expectations School is the touching story of Class 4-217 and their teacher, Mr. Brown. But more than that, it is the revealing story of a broken educational system and all those struggling within and fighting against it.
" The test score gap between blacks and whites—on vocabulary, reading, and math tests, as well as on tests that claim to measure scholastic aptitude and intelligence--is large enough to have far-reaching social and economic consequences. In their introduction to this book, Christopher Jencks and Meredith Phillips argue that eliminating the disparity would dramatically reduce economic and educational inequality between blacks and whites. Indeed, they think that closing the gap would do more to promote racial equality than any other strategy now under serious discussion. The book offers a comprehensive look at the factors that contribute to the test score gap and discusses options for substantially reducing it. Although significant attempts have been made over the past three decades to shrink the test score gap, including increased funding for predominantly black schools, desegregation of southern schools, and programs to alleviate poverty, the median black American still scores below 75 percent of American whites on most standardized tests. The book brings together recent evidence on some of the most controversial and puzzling aspects of the test score debate, including the role of test bias, heredity, and family background. It also looks at how and why the gap has changed over the past generation, reviews the educational, psychological, and cultural explanations for the gap, and analyzes its educational and economic consequences. The authors demonstrate that traditional explanations account for only a small part of the black-white test score gap. They argue that this is partly because traditional explanations have put too much emphasis on racial disparities in economic resources, both in homes and in schools, and on demographic factors like family structure. They say that successful theories will put more emphasis on psychological and cultural factors, such as the way black and white parents teach their children to deal with things they do not know or understand, and the way black and white children respond to the same classroom experiences. Finally, they call for large-scale experiments to determine the effects of schools' racial mix, class size, ability grouping, and other policies. In addition to the editors, the contributors include Claude Steele, Ronald Ferguson, William G. Bowen, Philip Cook, and William Julius Wilson. "
In the field of teacher expectations and pupil learning one important psychological truth is that the pupils' achievement in learning is strongly influenced by the teachers' expectations of their level of performance, high or low. Roy Nash discusses critically and fully important research in this area. In the belief that research must be interpreted within an overall theory of social action, the author relates the empirical studies which he examines to an interactionist theory. He emphasizes the importance of making teachers aware of the implications of what they are doing and of the possibility of establishing wider and more educative patterns of interaction. He shows that research into 'attitudes', 'perceptions', or 'expectations' is all essentially concerned with the same problem: how teachers relate to pupils on the basis of a model of what pupils may be. Much of the work he discusses has direct relevance to teachers in their day-to-day work. The research findings will help them to become more aware of their attitudes and how these influence their actions, and should make them more likely to give all their pupils equal opportunities within their classes. Among the topics covered are observational and experimental studies of teacher expectations, the analysis of classroom climate, self-conceptions, pupils' perceptions and expectations, and the significance of classroom-based research into teacher/pupil interaction.
The International Handbook of Research on Teachers and Teaching provides a fresh look at the ever changing nature of the teaching profession throughout the world. This collection of over 70 articles addresses a wide range of issues relevant for understanding the present educational climate in which the accountability of teachers and the standardized testing of students have become dominant.
