Teacher Expectations and Perceived Teacher Involvement Anticipate Changes in Latino/a Students’ Expectations of Math Success

• In Event: Poster Session 02
  In Poster Session: PS 02 Topic - Education, Schooling

Abstract

Latinos collectively score below middle school peers on national mathematics assessments (Aud et al., 2011). Student expectations have been proposed as one explanation for diminished math achievement. Latinos hold lower expectations of success than any other major racial-ethnic group in the United States (Bohon et al., 2006; Kao & Tienda,1998). The problem becomes especially acute in middle school, during which average levels of expectations typically decline (Wigfield et al., 1998). Teachers are believed to play an important role in shaping student expectations of academic success, both through their attitudes and through the differential treatment they offer students (Rubie-Davies, 2006). The current study examines the role that teacher expectations and teacher involvement play in middle school Latino/a students’ expectations of success in math.
Method. Participants included 201 (86 boys, 115 girls) 6th grade Latino/a students and their teachers (N=21; 6 males, 15 females) from a low-income, primarily Latino agricultural community in Northern California. Most students were born in the United States (92.5%), and over half (65.7%) represented the first generation in their family to be born in the USA.
Data were collected in the Fall (M¬age = 11.0, SD=0.48) and Spring of (M¬age = 11.4, SD=0.54) 6th grade, at the beginning and end of the semester. Students and teachers completed assessments describing perceptions of teacher involvement with the student (Skinner & Belmont, 1993) and expectations of the students’ success in math (Frome & Eccles, 1998). Students’ math performance was also assessed (Denner et al., 2018).
Results. Two sets of Actor-Partner Interdependence Models (APIM) analyses (Kenny, 2006), modified for longitudinal data (Popp et al., 2008) were conducted. The analyses were modified to incorporate latent-change scores that overcome limitations of APIMs by disentangling within-subject growth from between-subject influence (McArdle, 2009), thereby truly representing dynamic change. In the first set of analyses, overtime associations predicting changes in student expectations of success were examined (see Figure 1). In the second set, the degree to which these associations varied as a function of students’ initial performance was examined (see Figure 2).
The findings indicated that both teacher expectations of math success and student reports of teacher involvement at the beginning of the school year (Fall 6th grade) were associated with changes in students’ expectations of math success from the beginning to the end of the school year (Fall to Spring 6th grade). Higher initial teacher expectations and higher initial student reports of teacher involvement predicted increases in student expectations. The former (but not the latter) was limited to students with above average math abilities.
Discussion. Our study highlights the role of teachers in fostering students’ academic self-perception. Teachers’ expectations and their relationships with students can influence students’ own expectations of academic success. The results are consistent with research on majority cultures, which suggest teachers’ expectations (Upadaya & Eccles, 2015) and their relationships with students (Wentzel, 2010) impact students’ self-beliefs.

Authors

• Michael Joseph Yoho, Florida Atlantic University
  Presenting Author

• Olivia Valdes, Florida Atlantic University
  Non-Presenting Author

• Daniel Joseph Dickson
  Non-Presenting Author

• Jill Denner, Education + Training + Research
  Non-Presenting Author

• Brett Laursen, Florida Atlantic University
  Non-Presenting Author