Accuracy and Inaccuracy in Teachers' Perceptions of Young Children's Cognitive Abilities: The Role of Child Background and Classroom Context

Teachers' subjective understandings of their students' cognitive abilities have important implications for classroom interactions, children's access to resources and opportunities, and educational equity more broadly. Using nationally representative data and three-level hierarchical l...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:American educational research journal 2011-04, Vol.48 (2), p.335-360
Main Authors: Ready, Douglas D., Wright, David L.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Achievement
Accuracy
Children
Children & youth
Classroom Environment
Classrooms
Cognitive Ability
Context Effect
Disadvantaged Youth
Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey
Elementary school teachers
Emergent Literacy
Equal Education
Gender Differences
Hispanics
Kindergarten
Kindergarten education
Literacy
Misconceptions
Perception tests
Perceptions
Prediction
Racial Differences
Reading Skills
Social interaction
Social perception
Socioeconomic Influences
Socioeconomic Status
Student Characteristics
Teacher Attitudes
Teachers
Teaching, Learning, and Human Development
Test scores
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Summary:Teachers' subjective understandings of their students' cognitive abilities have important implications for classroom interactions, children's access to resources and opportunities, and educational equity more broadly. Using nationally representative data and three-level hierarchical linear models, this study explored the links between teacher perceptions and children's sociodemographic backgrounds. The authors find that teachers perceive substantial racial-ethnic, socioeconomic, and gender differences in children's literacy skills. Roughly half of these disparities are explained by actual between-group differences. The remaining perceptual inaccuracies flow more from classroom characteristics than from teachers' professional or personal backgrounds (e.g., their own race or ethnicity). Specifically, holding students' social and academic backgrounds constant, the authors find that teachers in lower-socioeconomic-status and lower-achieving contexts more often underestimate their students' abilities. These results highlight the importance of recent policy efforts to avoid isolating traditionally disadvantaged children.
ISSN:0002-8312
1935-1011
DOI:10.3102/0002831210374874