Analysis of teacher expectations and reading achievement in first grade

Purposes of the study were to (1) develop an instrument for evaluating teacher expectations in regard to factors influencing reading achievement; (2) administer the instrument to first grade teachers of a selected school district to ascertain range of teacher expectations regarding factors that influence reading achievement; (3) identify teachers in two groups--Those revealing the Greatest Expectation of Differences in pupil achievement (TGED) and Those revealing the Least Expectation of Differences in achievement (TIED); and (4) collect data from student records for the two groups of teachers to determine extent to which the self-fulfilling prophecy may be manifested as it relates to reading achievement. An instrument, based on factors which research has indicated influences teacher expectations concerning reading achievement, was administered to seventy-eight first grade teachers in the selected school district. Responses were analyzed by computer. Thirty-two teachers were selected for the latter part of the study and were divided into two groups: sixteen teachers who "agreed" most often that certain factors influence reading achievement (TGED) and sixteen who "disagreed" most often with statements regarding expected reading achievement (TLED). Data were recorded for 349 students from the sixteen TGED and 348 students from the sixteen TLED, a total of 697 students, which comprised the population for this phase of the study.Data for the 697 students included: (1) Metropolitan Readiness Test rating (administered at conclusion of kindergarten);(2) sex of child; (3) ethnic origin; (4) order of birth; (5) area of residence; (6) parent occupation; (7) socioeconomic level; (8) attendance in kindergarten; (9) age at entry to first grade; and (10) scores on GatesMacGinitie Reading Tests (administered at conclusion of first grade).Ratings from the Metropolitan Readiness Test were used as a constant. Students were grouped into "high," "average," and "low" categories from MRT scores. Instruction by teachers with greatest or least expectation of differences was used as the treatment (independent variable). Data from student records were used as dependent variables for ninety-six analyses of variance. Significant differences favored students taught by TGED on thirteen of forty-eight analyses. Only three significant differences favored students taught by TLED. Therefore, it appears that this student population tended to be more successful in learning to read when working with the TGED group. The three significant differences which favored the students instructed by TLED teachers appeared in the categories with "low" readiness ratings. Perhaps the TLED teachers obtain better results from pupils in these groupings because less differences in reading achievement are expected. Twenty-two differences were statistically significant in forty-eight analyses performed on groups subdivided according to sex of student, parent occupation, area of residence, ethnic origin, and socioeconomic level. It appears that certain factors analyzed exerted influences which affect a child learning to read regardless of teacher expectations. The variables of order of birth, attendance in kindergarten, and age at entry to first grade revealed no statistically significant differences.In this study, reading achievement scores were significantly higher at the end of first grade for girls compared to boys, for Caucasian students compared to students of minority groups, for children from "white collar" families compared to children from "blue collar" families, for children who live in other areas compared to children who live in the inner-city, and for children from middle and upper socioeconomic levels compared to children from lower socioeconomic level. Therefore, it would appear that these differences involved important factors operating to determine reading achievement whether instruction was provided by teachers with greater or lesser expectation of differences among students.Thesis (D. Ed.