The Effects Of Classroom Expectancy On Student

Achievement Essay, Research Paper

Running head: CLASSROOM EXPECTANCY AND ACADEMIC SUCCESS

The Effects of Classroom Expectancy on Student Achievement

Aaron D. Anderson

Cumberland College

The Effects of Classroom Expectancy on Student Achievement

Introduction

The purpose of this study was twofold: first, to investigate how classroom expectancy impacted upon student academic achievement; second, to test whether there existed interactions between learning styles that resulted in differential patterns of academic achievement in the classroom.

Across America, in state after state, a decade of major reforms in education has so far failed to produce the anticipated improvement in the quality of our schools or the academic achievements of our students

Recently the reform debate has intensified even further. Now almost every day one hears of a new controversy about such issues as teacher pay and accountability, parental choice, local control of the school, new and revised curricula and textbooks, new forms of tests and evaluation, and year-round school.

Missing in this debate has been the discussion of the engagement and motivation of the students in the classroom themselves. This is a suspect omission, for even if we raise standards and succeed at restructuring our schools and improving the quality of our teachers. The results may be little or no improvement at all unless the students also increase their level of expectations. After all, it is the students who still must do the learning and the work.

The results of the study on student’s expectations of the classroom and the patterns of student achievement further support the idea that attitudes and perceptions play a fundamental role in the learning process. Therefore, if a teacher, school district, or the education field as a whole, are to expect to raise student’s academic achievement levels we must take into account the attitudes and perceptions of each individual learner and then adapt our plans to foster more positive expectations.

Background

Popular opinion has it that students’ academic achievement in terms of success depends on the quality of their teachers and textbooks. However, if you ask the students, you get a different view (U.S. Department of Education 1992).

According to the U.S. Department of Education (1992) most students believe their ability and effort are the main reasons for school achievement. As far as researchers can tell, most educators still subscribe to that traditional way of thinking and believe in the value of student effort. Yet, according to the U.S. Department of education (1992), when achievement drops, parents and policy makers seldom blame the study habits of students. Rather, they blame the schools and, particularly, the teachers. Consequently, over the past twenty-five years, most educational reforms have assumed that achievement would rise if the quality of instruction, teachers, and textbooks were improved (1992).

However, left out of this assumption is the relationship existing between academic achievements and the amount and quality of student effort (1992). For example, according to Robert Marzano (1992), in the review of research in mathematical problem solving, researchers have found that learners’ perceptions about their ability to solve problems are a primary factor in mathematics performance. If students perceive themselves as poor problem solvers, that perception overrides most other factors, including natural ability and previous learning (Marzano 1992). Therefore, awareness of how students’ attitudes and beliefs about learning develop and what facilitates learning for its own sake can assist educators in reducing student apathy (Lumsden, 1992).

Teachers routinely attest to the significance of perception and attitude, lamenting how easily students’ memorize unending rap songs despite their needing a truckload of teaching tricks to remember directions for a simple assignment (Walker, 2001).

Given the amount of prior research, I sought to clarify the relationship between student expectations in the classroom and the likelihood of student academic achievement due to that expectation.

Goals

The primary goal of the study was to evaluate how classroom expectancy impacted student academic achievement. Also, to test whether there existed interactions between learning styles that resulted in differential patterns of academic achievement in the classroom.

Objectives

The purpose of this study was twofold: first, to investigate how classroom expectations impacted upon student achievement; second, to test whether there existed interactions between classroom learning styles that resulted in differential patterns of academic achievement in the classroom.

Design

Subjects

Thirty students enrolled in McCreary Central High School located in South Eastern Kentucky participated in this study. Students were randomly sampled from two World Civilization classes which is a required class for all tenth grade students. From the sampled students population, twelve were males, and eighteen females. The survey instrument was administered approximately 11 weeks into the Spring 2001 semester.

Measures

Subjects responded to scales from the Canfield’s Learning Styles Inventory (C

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