Teachers adapt their instruction according to students’ academic performance

Abstract

This study examined the extent to which a student’s academic performance in first grade contributes to the active instruction given by a teacher to a particular student. To investigate this, 105 first graders were tested in mathematics and reading in the fall and spring of their first school year. At the same time points, their teachers filled in a questionnaire on five successive days on the active instruction they have given a particular student. The results showed that the poorer the performance in reading a student showed in fall, the more active instruction teachers reported giving a student in spring. Moreover, the poorer the performance in mathematics a student showed in fall, the more active instruction less-experienced teachers reported giving that particular student in spring. The giving of active instruction by less-experienced teachers also contributed to an increase in children’s subsequent performance in mathematics.

Keywords:

• academic performance
• classroom practice
• differential instruction
• evocative impact
• individualised instruction
• student characteristics
• teacher–student relationship