The Effects of Teacher Expectations and Ability Grouping on African American Students’ Reading Comprehension

• In Event: Building on Student Assets: Talent Development Approaches to Motivation and Achievement

Abstract

The purpose of this study is four-fold: (1) to examine the use of the talent quest model on ability group populations, (2) show how high teacher expectations (TE) can influence the task interest in African American elementary students, (3) invalidate the benefits of ability group practices (4) provide implications for school reform efforts.

The guiding framework is the Talent Quest Model (TQM; Boykin & Ellison, 2009) focusing on multi-faceted achievement gap while educating the whole child. The TQM suggests in order to make this possible. We must place focus on creating supportive yet demanding environments for student learning, where high expectations are given while promoting improvement and excellence. We posit that when high expectations are present they capitalize on students’ receptiveness to socially supportive educational context

Participants included 72 African American elementary school students drawn from 4th grade classrooms in the Midwestern region of the U.S. Half were male and half were female.
Academic Performance measured students reading comprehension by testing the main idea. Students were given a short passage to read and asked to identify the main idea (Housel, 2004).
The Task Motivation Questionnaire (TMQ), developed by Bailey & Boykin (2000), is a 9-item measure that evaluates task, preference, effort and persistence.

Pretest was given to an equal number of high- and low ability group students. Students were then engaged in a 15-minute learning phase. Students were given 10 minutes study time. After, students received an expectation prompt, while given 15 minutes to complete a post-test. Last, students were asked to take 10 minutes to complete a task-motivation questionnaire.

A 2(teacher expectations)x2(ability-group)x2(gender) ANOVA was conducted to test the hypothesis that students in the high TE condition would show greater task-motivation levels than those in the low TE condition. There was a significant difference in expectation level on task-motivation F(1, 68)=7.636, p<.05. A 2(TE)x2(ability-group)x2(gender) ANOVA was conducted testing the hypothesis that students in the high TE condition would perform better than those in the low TE condition. There was a significant difference in expectation level on performance F(1,68)=30.153, p< .001. A 2(TE)x2(ability-group)x2(trial) repeated measures ANOVA was conducted, predicting the performance benefit being greater for low ability-group students rather than high ability-group students. An interaction between the factors was not significant F(1,64)=.371, p>.05. However, two 2-way interactions were found in the analysis, indicating an interaction for trial and TEF(1,64)=17.645, p<.05and a second 2-way interaction revealing an interaction between trial and ability-group F(1, 64)=6.82, p<.05.

These results are best explained by the classroom transactions and social interactions which were held between the teacher and the student. This is critical for African American students’ academic performance and motivation. Holding students to their highest of their potential is essential in the classroom. Moreover, providing a supportive yet demanding learning environment, where high expectations are set and effort and improvement are promoted, students not only improved academically, but constructed a knowledge base rather than regurgitated information (Boykin & Ellison, 2009).

Author

• Christopher D. Hill, Howard University