Enhancing Teacher-Student Relationships in Secondary Schools

• In Event: 47.030 - Interpersonal Processes and Social Context of Learning

Abstract

While teacher-student relationships (TSRs) foster key student outcomes, there is almost no experimental evidence for effective TSR-building interventions. The present study informs future TSR interventions in adolescence by investigating (1) longitudinal associations between students’ perceived TSRs and student outcomes (motivation and achievement), and (2) the influence of teachers’ perceived TSRs on student outcomes. Our findings suggest TSR interventions may be most potent when introduced early in the academic year and that interventions should target both students’ and teachers’ perceived relationships to maximize student outcomes. Lastly, we present some of the first research on how teachers’ TSR perceptions associate with their expectations for student learning; future research should determine causality to more effectively design TSR interventions that improve student outcomes.

Authors

• Christine Calderon Vriesema, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Carly Dolan Robinson, Harvard University

• Rebeca Mireles-Rios, University of California - Santa Barbara

• Hunter Gehlbach, University of California - Santa Barbara