Teacher expectations and perceived teacher involvement anticipate changes in Latino/a middle school students’ expectations of math success

Abstract

Strong evidence indicates that student expectations of success in mathematics decline in middle school. The goal of the present study was to examine whether the expectations of teachers and the quality of the student-teacher relationship play a role in these declines. A total of 201 (86 boys, 115 girls) Latino/a students (M = 11.0 years) and their teachers completed surveys at the beginning and end of the 6th grade, describing expectations of the student’s success in mathematics and perceptions of teacher involvement with the student. Higher teacher expectations of mathematics success and higher student reports of teacher involvement anticipated greater increases in student expectations of success; the former (but not the latter), was limited to students with above average mathematics abilities.

Keywords:

• Mathematics
• middle school
• Hispanic/Latino
• teacher involvement
• expectations of success

Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to the research team members Eloy Ortiz, Seow Ling Ong, and Yethzéll Díaz.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by a grant to Jill Denner and Brett Laursen from the National Science Foundation [grant 1248598].