The results indicate the importance of the teacher and the necessity of using multilevel models when investigating the complex nature of between-teacher differences in expectations of student performance.

Little is known about factors other than students' abilities and background variables that shape teachers' achievement expectations. This study was aimed at investigating the role of teachers' perceptions of students attributes (working habits, popularity, self-confidence, student-teacher relationships, and classroom behavior) in shaping teachers' expectations. The sample analyzed consisted of 5316 students and 469 classes in grade 6 in Dutch primary education. Teachers had higher expectations for students who they perceived as self-confident and having positive work habits. Differences in expectations between boys and girls could partly be explained by the teachers' perceptions of students' work habits. Teachers differed in the extent to which they let their perceptions of student attributes shape their expectations.

This study provides a systematic review of the effects of 19 teacher expectation interventions. Prior research on teacher expectations primarily focussed on correlational relationships with student and teacher characteristics, leaving open the questions of whether it is possible to raise teacher expectations and to prevent (too) low expectations from having detrimental effects on student achievement. These questions were the scope of the current review. We distinguished 3 types of interventions: changing teacher behaviour, creating awareness of expectancy effects, and addressing the beliefs underlying the expectations. The results indicated that it was possible to raise teacher expectations and subsequent student achievement. We found summary effects of Hedges' g = 0.38 and 0.30, respectively. The narrative review suggested that the intervention type did not affect the effectiveness, but teacher support for the intervention did. However, verification of this suggestion with moderator analysis was not possible due to the limited number of interventions. KEYWORDSTeacher expectation interventions; review and meta-analysis; student achievement

Accountability systems in education generally include indicators of student performance. However, these indicators often differ considerably among the various systems. More and more countries try to include value-added measures, mainly because they do not want to hold schools accountable for differences in their initial intake of students. This study presents a conceptual framework of these value-added measures, resulting in an overview of 5 different types. Using data from Dutch secondary schools, we empirically provide estimates of these different measures. Our analyses show that the correlation between the different types of school effects estimated is rather high, but that the different models implicate different results for individual schools. Based on theoretical considerations, arguments are given to use the following indicators in the value-added accountability models: prior achievement, student-level background characteristics, and compositional characteristics of the student population.

Bias in track recommendations is an important mechanism, which causes education inequity in a tracked educational system (streaming). If teacher biases in track recommendations change over time, inequity in society and in the education system may also change. We investigated changes in track recommendation bias over time for gender, immigration status and socioeconomic status (SES), based on a longitudinal empirical study of nine cohorts of Dutch students in their final year (grade 6) of primary education in the period 1995–2014. An overview of educational and societal trends was provided, alongside the empirical analysis, to explain the findings in variation over time in track recommendation bias. Results indicate that the level of track recommendations provided to the students gradually increased over time. For a similar performance, a higher track recommendation was awarded in 2014 compared to 1995. This development coincided with an increase in parental education level, the valuing of education and the introduction of lower‐status pre‐vocational education tracks. Track recommendation bias favouring students with a migrant background and female students decreased, which coincided with growing cultural intolerance and attention to the ‘boy problem’. Bias in track recommendations related to SES appeared stable, with only small deviations from year to year. The results of this study indicate that track recommendation bias and teacher considerations are dependent on time and context.