Increasing Teacher Expectations for Student Achievement

Abstract

This report summarizes a study of a staff development program to reduce disparity in educational achievement across race and sex. Teacher Expectations and Student Achievement (TESA; Kerman, Kimball, & Martin, 1980) was implemented in an elementary school. Achievement test scores, attitudes toward school and self, perceptions of teacher practices, and grade retentions were compared for the 306 students of teachers who volunteered to participate in the experimental program, as well as students in the same school (n = 329) and in a different school (n = 250) whose teachers did not participate. The results differed depending upon which comparison group was used. A small positive effect is implied by the within-school comparison, and a negative effect is implied by the between-school comparison.