Measures of teacher-student relationship quality (TSRQ), effortful engagement, and achievement in reading and math were collected once each year for 3 consecutive years, beginning when participants were in 1st grade, for a sample of 671 (53.1% male) academically at-risk children attending 1 of 3 school districts in Texas. In separate latent variable structural equation models, the authors tested the hypothesized model, in which Year 2 effortful engagement mediated the association between Year 1 TSRQ and Year 3 reading and math skills. Conduct engagement was entered as a covariate in these analyses to disentangle the effects of effortful engagement and conduct engagement. Reciprocal effects of effortful engagement on TSRQ and of achievement on effortful engagement were also modeled. Results generally supported the hypothesized model. Year 1 variables had a direct effect on Year 3 variables, above year-to-year stability. Findings suggest that achievement, effortful engagement, and TSRQ form part of a dynamic system of influences in the early grades, such that intervening at any point in this nexus may alter children's school trajectories.

Participants were 443 (52.6% male, 47.4% female) ethnically diverse, 1st-grade, lower achieving readers attending 1 of 3 school districts in Texas. Using latent variable structural equation modeling, the authors tested a theoretical model positing that (a) the quality of teachers' relationships with students and their parents mediates the associations between children's background characteristics and teacher-rated classroom engagement and that (b) child classroom engagement, in turn, mediates the associations between student-teacher and parent-teacher relatedness and child achievement the following year. The hypothesized model provided a good fit to the data. African American children and their parents, relative to Hispanic and Caucasian children and their parents, had less supportive relationships with teachers. These differences in relatedness may be implicated in African American children's lower achievement trajectories in the early grades. Implications of these findings for teacher preparation are discussed.

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This study modeled teacher-student relationship trajectories throughout elementary school to predict gains in achievement in an ethnic-diverse sample of 657 academically at-risk students. Teacher reports of Warmth and Conflict were collected in grades 1 to 5. Achievement was tested in grade 1 and 6. For Conflict, low-stable (normative), low-increasing, high-declining, and high-stable trajectories were found. For Warmth, high-declining (normative) and low-increasing patterns were found. Children with early behavioral, academic, or social risks were under-represented in the normative trajectory groups. Chronic conflict was most strongly associated with under achievement. Rising Conflict but not declining Conflict coincided with underachievement. The probability of school failure increased as a function of the timing and length of time children were exposed to relational adversity.

The shared and unique effects of teacher and student reports of teacher student relationship quality (TSRQ) in second and third grade on academic self views, behavioral engagement, and achievement the following year were investigated in a sample of 714 academically at-risk students. Teacher and student reports of teacher-student support and conflict showed low correspondence. As a block, teacher and student reports of TSRQ predicted all outcomes, above prior performance on that outcome and background variables. Student reports uniquely predicted school belonging, perceived academic competence, and math achievement. Teacher reports uniquely predicted behavioral engagement and child perceived academic competence. Teacher and student reports of the teacher-student relationship assess largely different constructs that predict different outcomes. Implications of findings for practice and research are discussed. Longitudinal Effects of Teacher and Student Perceptions of Teacher- Student Relationship Qualities on Engagement and AchievementAn extensive body of research documents the developmental benefits of relationships with teachers that are characterized by high levels of support and low levels of conflict. Longitudinal studies find that a positive relationship with one's teacher predicts improvements in children's cooperative and effortful engagement in the classroom (Hughes, Cavell, & Jackson, 1999;Meehan, Hughes, & Cavell, 2003;Skinner, Zimmer-Gembeck, & Connell, 1998), peer acceptance (Hughes, Cavell, & Willson, 2001;, and academic achievement (Hamre & Pianta, 2001;Hughes, Luo, Kwok, & Loyd, 2008). Conversely, students whose relationships with teachers are characterized by conflict are more likely to be retained in grade, to experience peer rejection, and to increase externalizing behaviors (Ladd, Birch, & Buhs, 1999;Pianta, Steinberg, & Rollins, 1995;Silver, Measelle, Armstrong, & Essex, 2005). The benefits of a supportive, low-conflict relationship with one's teacher are important from the earliest school years (Howes, Hamilton, & Matheson, 1994;Ladd et al., 1999) through adolescence (Ryan, Stiller, & Lynch, 1994;Wentzel, 1998). Importantly, teacher student relationships in the early grades predict long-term achievement, controlling for relevant child characteristics (Hamre & Pianta, 2001;O'Connor & McCartney, 2007). Theoretical processes responsible for effects of teacher-student relationshipResearchers have drawn from multiple theories in postulating processes that explain an effect of TSRQ on children's academic motivation and achievement. Researchers drawing from attachment theory (Bowlby, 1980) assert that a warm and supportive teacher-student relationship may provide a child with a sense of felt security that promotes the child's free and active participation in classroom learning activities (Howes et al., 1994;Pianta, 1999). Consistent with such theorizing, among elementary children, felt emotional security with NIH Public Access Author ManuscriptElem Sch J. Author manuscript; available in PMC 2...