Is There a Relationship Between Teacher Expectations and Student Achievement?
Beginning with Pygmalion in the Classroom (Rosenthal and Jacobson, 1968), an extensive body of research has been developed that describes how teachers’ expectations can influence student performance. While it would be misleading and inaccurate to state that teacher expectations determine a student’s success, the research clearly establishes that teacher expectations do play a significant role in determining how well and how much students learn. Although “teacher expectations” has many definitions, this monograph concentrates on three general types (Cooper, 1984). The first refers to the teacher’s perceptions of where a student is “at the present moment.” While not really a statement about expectations of future performance, it does help identify expectation effects. For instance, it has been noted that teachers who believe that they are interacting with bright students smile and nod their heads more often than teachers who believe that they are interacting with slow students. Teachers
