The Mediating Role of Student-Teacher Relationships in the Link between Cognition and Achievement

• In Event: Teacher-Student and Peer Relationships as Learning Contexts

Abstract

Student-teacher relationships play a role in achievement outcomes for all children. However, the impact of student-teacher relationships has been found to be stronger among minority children than nonminority children (Hughes, Luo, Kwok, & Loyd, 2008; Liew, Chen, & Hughes, 2010). African American children tend to experience greater conflict and less warmth with their teachers. Positive student-teacher relationships have a positive influence on child outcomes, particularly among African American children (Meehan, Hughes, & Cavell, 2003). This highlights the important roles that teachers can play in African American students’ development.

Although early cognitive skills impact later academic achievement, environmental conditions, such as student-teacher relationship quality, are also a source of influence on a child’s achievement outcomes. Inherent in the construct of “student-teacher relationships” is the idea that the child plays a role in this relationship. As such, it may be that child cognition influences student- teacher relationship quality, which subsequently influences academic achievement. For example, a child who enters school with poor executive functioning skills (e.g., low attentional skills) may experience more conflict between himself and the teacher, which could then lead to poor academic performance, as increased conflict is associated with poor academic performance (Hamre & Pianta, 2001).
The purpose of the present study is to investigate the whether student-teacher relationship quality will mediate the association between pre-K cognitive skills (fluid intelligence, crystallized intelligence, and executive functioning) and third grade achievement (reading and math). Participants are approximately 200 African American children. Measures of fluid intelligence, executive functioning, and crystallized intelligence were collected when the children were in pre-kindergarten and kindergarten teachers completed the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (Pianta, 2001). Achievement data were collected when children were in third grade (data collection will be completed in fall 2020).

Mediation analyses will be conducted using structural equation modeling. Bootstrap confidence intervals will be obtained to provide robust information on the significance of indirect effects from the cognitive variables to the achievement variables. Results of the research can lead to teacher training programs to enhance student-teacher relationship quality.

Author

• A. Nayena Blankson, Spelman College
  Presenting Author