Perceptions of Effective Teaching: Voices of Sixth Graders in an Urban Setting

• In Event: Restoring Local Urban Readiness for School Change

Abstract

Understanding the role of effective teaching in underrepresented students’ everyday school experiences is essential in order to best support educational opportunities for all children. In this work, data from diverse middle school students were examined to test the relations among measures of school climate, effective teaching, peer support, engagement and motivation, and success skills. Across the content areas of mathematics, science, and English/literature, lower implementation of classroom management was observed. Effective teaching significantly predicted students’ engagement and motivational mindsets as well as their success skills and mindsets, and mediated the relationship between school climate and engagement and motivational mindsets. The findings suggest additional paths through which key student and teaching variables are linked, and support implications for future research.

Authors

• Althea J. Pennerman, Salisbury University

• D. Jake Follmer, Salisbury University

• Claudia Burgess

• Chin-Hsiu Chen