How do differences in students’ backgrounds and characteristics affect their academic performance?
Page 2: Influence of Teacher Perceptions
Teacher perceptions—the thoughts or mental images teachers have about their students—are shaped by their background knowledge and life experiences. These experiences might involve their family history or tradition, education, work, culture, or community. All of these and more contribute to an individual’s personal lens, which influences how one views others. How does your personal lens influence your perceptions? Watch the First Thoughts/Digging Deeper movie below. During the first part of the movie, take a few seconds to write down the two or three thoughts or images that initially come to mind about each word. Continue watching to further reflect on your responses (time: 4:50).
Transcript: First Thoughts
Listen as the words appear on your screen. What thoughts or images come immediately to mind? Jot down a few notes about your first impressions. Continue watching for further reflection.
English language learner.
Cheerleader.
Student living in poverty.
Student with a disability.
Honor roll student.
School bully.
Prom queen and king.
Digging Deeper movie transcript
Now that you have written down some first thoughts, let’s dig a little deeper into those impressions.
We like to think that when we look at the world, we see it objectively. We tend to think that reality is exactly what we see, that it exists in the order and detail in which we see it, but how neutral are we when we look at the world around us?
A moment ago, you listened to a list of words, and it’s likely that some impressions or images came into your mind. Language is an abstraction that we attempt to convert into something simpler to understand: a concrete thought or picture that we can make sense of. What pictures leapt to mind when you heard those words? Were there several? Was there just one?
When you heard “English language learner,” did you see this?
Or this?
What about “cheerleader”? Is this what came to mind?
Or was it something like this?
What about “student living in poverty”? Did you see this?
Or perhaps this image is what occurred to you?
We don’t always like to acknowledge it, but our perceptions can sometimes be influenced by stereotypes. A cognitive and social mechanism, a stereotype is what we call the human mind’s tendency to simplify people or groups into a narrow range of characteristics, habits, or reactions. But these types of perceptions are often inaccurate, leading us to oversimplify or to unfairly categorize others.
People are more complex than that. People are more diverse.
So when you heard the words “student with a disability,” did you see this?
Or this?
What about…
“Honor roll student”?
“School bully”?
Or “prom queen and king”?
Did these images come to mind?
All people stereotype because stereotyping is a natural function of how the human mind perceives the world. But our minds also have the ability to understand that function—to realize that it is happening—and through reflection, reconsideration, and careful self-examination, we are able to mitigate the worst effects of this tendency that we all share.
Why Perceptions Matter
Even when individuals have little information about other people, there is a natural tendency to form perceptions about them, some of which might be based on stereotypes. This tendency can lead to misperceptions. Consider the following scenario: Katy Wilson, a practicum student, is working in a classroom with students from many different backgrounds. Her university supervisor is observing Katy as she conducts whole-group instruction. Later, the supervisor offers observations and feedback about Katy’s instruction. One of the things she points out is the way Katy responded differently to different groups of students.
“Katy, I noticed that when you called on certain students, you generally did not provide enough wait time for them to respond. When they did provide the correct answer, you simply said yes and moved on. In contrast, when you called on other students, you provided adequate time for them to respond and sometimes prompted them. You even praised them for their responses. I think we should talk about your perceptions and how they might be influencing your expectations for the students.”
Katie’s supervisor suspects that Katie has developed some misperceptions about her students’ abilities based on stereotypes. Although teachers might unknowingly form such misperceptions, when they become aware of this and their own personal lens, they can respond to their students more objectively. They can identify different viewpoints and get a much clearer picture of who their students really are. Educators should realize that their perceptions—and misperceptions—can positively or negatively shape their expectations for students. This, in turn, can influence students’ performance in the classroom.
As research has shown, when educators have high expectations, students are more likely to demonstrate high academic achievement. In contrast, when teachers have low expectations, students do not perform up to their potential. The table below lists some educator behaviors that might demonstrate either high or low expectations.
| High Expectations |
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| Low Expectations |
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Research Shows
- In a seminal study of teacher expectations, researchers randomly assigned students from disadvantaged backgrounds to either an experimental group or a control group, telling teachers that the experimental group of students had high potential. At the end of the study:
- The “high-potential” students outperformed the control group. This has become known as the Pygmalion effect, a type of self-fulfilling prophecy.
- Even when students in the control group improved their performance, their teachers did not acknowledge or praise their increase in achievement.
(Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968)
- In a more recent study, a review of kindergartner data showed that teachers had stronger relationships and less conflict with their students when they maintained high but reasonable expectations.
(Trang & Hansen, 2021) - In a study of 10th graders, students were more likely to complete college if their teachers had high expectations for them.
(Papageorge, Gershenson, & Kang, 2020)
