Measuring Effective Teacher-Student Interactions From a Student Perspective

Abstract

This study applies multi-level analysis to student reports of effective teacherstudent interactions in 50 upper elementary school classrooms (N = 594 fourth-and fifth-grade students). Observational studies suggest that teacherstudent interactions fall into three domains: Emotional Support, Classroom Organization, and Instructional Support. Results of multi-level confirmatory factor analyses indicated that a three-factor model fits between-and within-classroom variability in students' reports reasonably well. Multi-level regressions provide some evidence of criterion validity, with student reports at the classroom level related to parallel observations. Both classroom-and student-level student report data were associated with students' reading proficiency and disciplinary referrals. Findings are discussed in terms of implications for future research on student reports of classroom interactions and their practical utility in teacher evaluation and feedback systems.

Same, Similar, or Something Completely Different? Calibrating Student Surveys and Classroom Observations of Teaching Quality Onto a Common Metric

“…Prior studies examining the overlap between survey and observation measures typically apply correlational techniques (e.g., Downer et al, 2015;Ferguson & Danielson, 2014;Howard, Conway, & Maxwell, 1985;Kane & Staiger, 2012;Martínez, Schweig, & Goldschmidt, 2016;Maulana & Helms-Lorenz, 2016;Murray, 1983;Polikoff, 2015;Van der Lans, 2018) and uncover modestly sized associations between survey and classroom observation total scores. Studies that further decomposed the construct teaching quality into smaller factors have reported associations of similar size.…”

“…For example, Ferguson and Danielson () correlate the seven subscales of the Tripod survey (caring, controlling, clarifying, challenging, captivating, conferring, and consolidating) with the four subscales of the framework for teaching (FFT) (planning and preparation, classroom environment, instruction, and professional responsibilities) and find correlations ranging from .088 to .331. Other studies rely on (multilevel) regressions that allow for the inclusion of covariates, but associations remain of modest size (Downer et al., ; Martínez et al., ; Polikoff, ). These correlational studies show that students and observers score the same teachers differently, yet it remains unclear what exactly the students and observers disagree about.…”

Warmth and Demand: The Relation Between Students' Perceptions of the Classroom Environment and Achievement Growth

“…When measures are designed well and implemented properly, surveying students about their perceptions of the classroom environment can provide critical information about how students perceive their teachers' ability to meet their needs (Brock, Nishida, Chiong, Grimm, & Rimm‐Kaufman, ; Kane & Staiger, ). Surveying students is more common in secondary and higher education; however, the use of student perception measures has gained credibility as a tool for understanding upper elementary classrooms as well (Downer, Stuhlman, Schweig, Martínez, & Ruzek, ; Polikoff, ).…”

Influence of school leadership style on effective teaching and teacher-student interaction

“…The Teaching Through Interactions framework theoretical model posits teacher-student interactions as a central driver for student learning (Hafen et al, 2015), and teacher-student interactions fall into three domains: emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support (Downer et al, 2015). Teacher-student interactions and classroom context affected students' emotional and behavioral difficulties (Poulou, 2014;Rimm-Kaufman et al, 2015).…”