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ERIC Number: ED170071
Record Type: RIE
Publication Date: 1979-Apr
Pages: 31
Abstractor: N/A
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Learning About the Achievement Hierarchy of the Classroom: Through Children's Eyes.
Weinstein, Rhona Strasberg; Middlestadt, Susan E.
This paper reports on the underlying rationale and some early findings of a series of studies which investigate how students perceive and interpret teacher behavior toward high and low achievers in elementary classroom settings. To explore students' perceptions a multi-method approach was devised and two measures were constructed: a semistructured interview schedule for examining student beliefs about achievement status and differences, and a 60-item teacher treatment inventory which allowed students to rate teacher treatment of a hypothetical high or low achiever of male or female sex. Preliminary findings of studies among the elementary school children suggest that students do perceive differential treatment by the teacher of male high and low achievers. In effect, different environments exist for high and low achievers within one classroom setting. Additionally, it appears that students read into teacher behavior much beyond what researchers commonly think they are measuring; perceived teacher treatment differences most often reflect differences in the task assignment and management arena of classroom life; and children learn about their own relative smartness in school through at least four kinds of processes. Among the implications discussed, it was noted that by not waiting for an answer to a question or by collecting incomplete assignments from students teachers can limit the opportunities for a student to perform and learn. (Author/RH)
Descriptors: Academic Achievement, Elementary Education, Elementary School Students, Expectation, High Achievement, Interviews, Low Achievement, Methods, Perception, Questionnaires, Research, Research Design, Self Concept, Student Attitudes, Teacher Behavior, Teacher Characteristics, Teacher Effectiveness
Publication Type: Speeches/Meeting Papers; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: California Univ., Berkeley.
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Note: Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association (San Francisco, California, April 8-12, 1979)