Accuracy and Inaccuracy in Teachers’ Perceptions of Young Children’s Cognitive Abilities

Abstract

Teachers' subjective understandings of their students' cognitive abilities have important implications for classroom interactions, children's access to resources and opportunities, and educational equity more broadly. Using nationally representative data and three-level hierarchical linear models, this study explored the links between teacher perceptions and children's sociodemographic backgrounds. The authors find that teachers perceive substantial racial-ethnic, socioeconomic, and gender differences in children's literacy skills. Roughly half of these disparities are explained by actual between-group differences. The remaining perceptual inaccuracies flow more from classroom characteristics than from teachers' professional or personal backgrounds (e.g., their own race or ethnicity). Specifically, holding students' social and academic backgrounds constant, the authors find that teachers in lower-socioeconomic-status and lower-achieving contexts more often underestimate their students' abilities. These results highlight the importance of recent policy efforts to avoid isolating traditionally disadvantaged children.

An investigation of the relationship between teachers’ expectations and teachers’ perceptions of student attributes

“…There may be two explanations for these results. First, the well-documented difference in teacher expectations between boys and girls (e.g., de Boer et al 2010, Ready andWright 2011;Rubie-Davies 2008;Timmermans et al 2015) is only a partly true gender bias, but stems from differences between boys and girls in actual behavior that is reflected in the teachers' perceptions of student attributes. Second, it may still be ''gender bias'' if teachers base their expectations of boys and girls on how they perceive them to behave rather than on their actual behavior in the classroom.…”

“…All in all, the current findings add to the literature not only by providing evidence on the relationship between teacher expectations and perceptions of student behavior (Bennet et al 1993;Hecht and Greenfield 2002), but also by showing that this association is rather complex due to differences among teachers and dependence on students' performance levels. Further investigation of the association between perceptions and expectations may be needed, as perceptions and expectations may sometimes be inaccurate (Lane et al 2006;MacLure et al 2012) and both may influence teacher behavior and the subsequent performance of students (e.g., Bennet et al 1993;Brophy and Good 1970;Hamre and Pianta 2006;Ready and Wright 2011;Rubie-Davies 2007, 2008, 2010.…”

“…However, little is known about factors other than students' abilities and background variables that shape teachers' expectations of the future academic performance of their students (Hecht and Greenfield 2002;Hughes et al 2005;Rubie-Davies 2008, 2010. Nonetheless, it is important to understand which factors, personal impressions, or perceptions shape teachers' expectations (Hughes et al 2005;LaVoie and Adams 1973), because the teachers' expectations may influence subsequent teacher behavior, student performance, and track placement (e.g., Bennet et al 1993;Brophy and Good 1970;Hamre and Pianta 2006;Helwig et al 2001;Ready and Wright 2011;Rubie-Davies 2007, 2008, 2010. In shaping expectations of the future academic performance of students, teachers may partly rely on their perceptions of students' behavior in the classroom and the students' motivation while working on tasks (e.g., Bennet et al 1993;Driessen 2006;Hughes et al 2005;Kelly and Carbonaro 2012).…”

Students’ Characteristics and Teachers’ Estimates about Their Academic Achievement

“…Research has shown that teachers' perceptions, appreciations and expectations concerning students' academic aptitude may have implications for their teaching practices by influencing, on the one hand, the way they select teaching strategies and evaluate students and, on the other, by influencing students' self-evaluations and perceptions about their abilities (Alvidrez & Weinstein, 1999;Ready & Wright, 2011;Südkamp, Kaiser, & Möller, 2012).For instance, according to their expectations, teachers may present different patterns of interaction with students, including the use of nonverbal cues or positive reinforcement (Babad, 1993;Kuklinski & Weinstein, 2000;Rubie-Davies, Hattie, & Hamilton, 2006). The concretization of teacher expectations on students' achievement can be of an indirect or direct nature (Kuklinski & Weinstein, 2000).The latter can arise from differences in the curriculum exposure, that is, students may perform differently because they are given distinct opportunities for knowledge acquisition and achievement of skills.…”

A framework to improve teaching in multicultural contexts

“…In the U.S., teachers commonly see students who are White and Asian as more teachable than students who are Black and Latino, and students of middle-or upper-class backgrounds as more teachable than those from lower-class backgrounds. Teachers justify their expectations on the basis of student behavior (Minor, 2014), family background, and community context, particularly teachers' beliefs about the extent to which parents value education (Gay, 2010;Hauser-Cram, Sirin, & Stipek, 2003;Lynn, Bacon, Totton, Bridges, & Jennings, 2010;Ready & Wright, 2011;Warren, 2002).…”