Teacher-student relationships

This study was designed to determine whether students' grades and retention in a community college are affected by the degree of congruence between their learning styles and their respective teachers' teaching styles. Using two instruments to identify learning style and degree of self-directed learning, 452 students and twenty-two instructors were tested. A multiple regression analysis, F-tests, T-tests, and cross-tabulation tables were the statistical procedures used to determine the predictive values of the congruence between learning and teaching styles and self-directed learning on retention and grades. The study's findings suggested that an instructor's age and teaching style and a student's degree of self-directed learning have a stronger relationship to academic achievement and retention in class than does congruence between learning and teaching styles, which is also statistically significant. Learning and academic achievement are very complex interactions and are influenced by a variety of factors. Understanding of congruence of learning and teaching styles is a crucial concept in terms of an overall view of student achievement in the academic environment. However, it cannot be used as an isolated factor in predicting a student's academic potential. Rather, it is one of many inter-dependent aspects of learning which includes teaching style, learning style, degree of self-directed learning, instructor age and sex, and type of class taken as well as level of cognitive development. These are the variables that students, instructors, and school adminstrators must understand and take into consideration in building and developing curriculum that encourages students to reach their academic potential. Further research into student learning style flexibility to determine if students adjust learning strategies to teaching styles at odds with their learning style is warranted. Another follow-up study would be to replicate this study with graduates to ascertain which styles are found among graduates and to determine the percentage of style changes between freshmen and graduates.

Dogmatism is an uncritical, rigid way of thinking that correlates strongly with prejudice. Prejudice is an attitude, usually unfavorable, toward individuals or groups, arrived at through an uncritical thought process and a disregard of the facts. Dogmatism, because of its connection with prejudice, vitiates students' chances for learning. Dogmatism in teachers creates an inequitable distribution of education to the extent that marginalized minority students are shortchanged educational opportunities. The nature of dogmatism and its impact on education is covered in the literature. Moreover, pedagogical and andragogical strategies which utilize the cognitive and affective domains to heighten critical thinking ability and empathy for others are also addressed in the literature. A Strategic Prejudice-Reduction Framework, the Dogmatism Diminution Model (DDM), was developed, implemented, and evaluated in a university setting. The DDM is not designed to be a discrete course; rather it is meant to be infused within a multicultural education class. The key features of the DDM are its domains, the Cognitive, Reflective, Emotive, and Active through which the course content is relayed. The Cognitive and Emotive domains of the DDM correspond to the cognitive and affective literature, the Reflective domain corresponds to the literature on critical thinking, but the Active domain of the DDM is not associated with the behavioral domain of the literature. Instead it is related to the research on service learning. Three hypotheses were tested. Two dealt with the DDM and the third with a demographic correlate of dogmatism. In order to determine the effectiveness of the DDM, Milton Rokeach's (1960) Dogmatism Scale was administered in a pretest/posttest design. The data were submitted to an ANCOVA and subsequently to a post hoc Scheffe test to determine between which pairs of groups differences in means occurred. ANCOVA was used to compensate for the effect that the pretest might have on the results of the posttest. The comparison of means among the four groups identified a significant reduction in the level of dogmatism at the alpha = .05 level between the DDM group and the Control group as well as one of the other two experimental groups. However, in a paired-score comparison of the treatment group itself, no significance was found with the sample of 31 subjects. This could be attributed to a lack of power in the sample size. Finally, a Pearson Product Moment Correlation of .154 was significant at the 95% confidence level between the variables of dogmatism and degree of religiosity.

The purpose of this study was to develop a predictive model for teacher
knowledge about ADHD and teacher attitudes toward the disorder. The Attention Deficit
Hyperactivity Disorder Knowledge Assessment (ADHDK.A), developed by the researcher,
was used to determine the nature of the relationship between teacher knowledge and
attitudes regarding ADHD and various sources from which teachers are most likely to
obtain information. Four teacher characteristics (teaching position, experience teaching
children with ADHD, personal experience with ADHD, and confidence teaching children
with ADHD) were also investigated for their predictive value.
The sample was comprised of 225 classroom teachers of grades K to 5 from seven
elementary schools in Broward County, Florida. Teachers completed the ADHDKA
which consisted of multiple choice, true and false, and open-ended statements about
ADHD. Three research questions were posed before data were collected. Multiple
regressions were run to determine the degree of association between each of the criterion
variables (knowledge and attitude), and the 12 predictor variables investigated in this
study. The degree of correlation between teacher knowledge and teacher attitude was
examined using a Pearson product moment correlation. Qualitative analysis was used to
uncover emerging themes from teacher responses to the open-ended statements. Major findings in the study were as follows: (a) Primary (K- 2) teachers have a
higher level of knowledge about ADHD than do intermediate (3-5) teachers (-.159,
p < .05); (b) teachers who have personal experience with ADHD have a higher level of
knowledge about ADHD than do teachers with no personal experience with ADHD (.147,
p < .05); (c) teachers with a high level of confidence about teaching children with ADHD
have a higher level of knowledge about ADHD than do teachers with a low level of
confidence (.280,p < .01); and (d) a predictive model can be developed to determine
teacher knowledge about ADHD (R^2 = .139). The R-square indicates that 13.9% of the
variance in teacher knowledge can be accounted for by the variation of the combined
predictor variables. Although statistically significant (F [12, 188] = 2.521,p = .004), the
correlation is less than the predetermined critical effect size of 25% and may be of limited
practical significance (.139 < .25). Conclusions based on the fmdings from the study were: (a) Teachers do not have
adequate information regarding strategies to accommodate behavioral and academic
challenges for the child with ADHD; (b) teachers lack confidence teaching children with
ADHD; and (c) teachers do not receive adequate district-level, or school-based, administrative support (i.e., availability of appropriate ADHD in-service, assistance with
parent support, classroom management issues).
Noteworthy recommendations for those in positions of educational leadership
included the following: (a) more extensive ADHD training for pre-service teachers than is
presently required; (b) a comprehensive choice of ADHD workshops offered by school
districts to administrators, teachers, paraprofessionals, cafeteria staff, custodians, bus
drivers, and any other school personnel who may interact with children; and (c) a districtlevel
expert on ADHD for the specific purpose of advising administrators, teachers, and
parents about practical solutions to everyday ADHD-related issues.
Recommendations for future research included the following: (a) Investigate why
teachers with high levels of knowledge about ADHD have negative attitudes toward the
disorder; (b) employ a mixed between - within design assessing teacher knowledge and
attitude before and after attendance at an ADHD in-service; and (c) investigate the
connection between teaching position and teacher knowledge about ADHD.

The purpose of this study was to examine the
relationship between the leadership style of a teacher
(based on the teacher's attitudes of students as measured
by the Supervisory Attitudes Scale), and the amount of
self-esteem of the students (based on the school environment
as measured by the Semantic Differential Scale). The
study attempted to answer the question, "Does the leadership
style of a teacher affect the measure of self-esteem
in the students?" The sample for this study consisted of two hundred
grade six teachers and their six thousand students located
in six districts of the Toronto Board of Education, Toronto,
Ontario, Canada. The Teachers' attitude Scale was administered to the two hundred grade six teachers to determine
by district the fifteen per cent most authoritarian and the
fifteen per cent most non-authoritarian teachers .
It was concluded that teachers' leadership attitudes
did have a significant effect on students' self-esteem,
and that students of teachers with Theory X attitudes had
a significantly lower measure of self-esteem than students
of teachers with Theory Y attitudes.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the development of preservice teachers' beliefs in regard to diversity concepts and issues. The current study finds a positive development in preservice teacher candidates' professional beliefs about diversity as shown through observations, interviews, and document analysis at the beginning and end of upper division coursework in an elementary education degree program that infuses diversity throughout the program. Reflection is at the core of the goals of the college of education in which this program resides. Findings from this study revealed that through reflection and discourse, a majority of the senior students did show development in their professional beliefs about diversity concepts and issues. These findings may add to literature on program evaluation in the study of diversity concepts and infusion throughout upper division coursework. This study was limited due to an extremely low response rate and other spurious factors.

The qualitative research study examined the teacher-student and student-student interactions that took place in two elementary parochial classrooms staffed by teachers nominated as effective by their supervisors. The study also examined relationships, similarities and differences between the teacher-student and student-student interactions. Qualitative data were collected including classroom observations, interviews with teachers, and focus group interviews with students. Results indicated that effective teachers supported their students organizationally through well-organized learning environments ; instructionally by using a variety of instructional scaffolds, strategies and materials while holding students accountable for their learning ; and emotionally by meeting students' needs for belonging and safety. Student-student instructinal and emotional supports reflected most of the elements of teacher-student organizational, instructional and emotional supports but also included some negative interactions not present in teacher-student interactions. Implications for classroom practice, public policy and further research in classroom interactions are given.