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TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF RELATIONSHIP QUALITY:
LINKS TO SCHOOL SUCCESS OF LOW-INCOME AFRICAN
AMERICAN STUDENTS

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TEACHERS’ PERCEPTIONS OF RELATIONSHIP QUALITY:
LINKS TO THE SCHOOL SUCCESS OF
LOW-INCOME AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS
By

Carol LaShawn Lacey

A DISSERTATION
Submitted to
Michigan State University
in partial fulﬁllment of the requirements
for the degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY

Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education

2005

ABSTRACT
'l‘lZACHERS' PERCEPTIONS OF RELATIONSHIP QUALITY:
LINKS TO THE SCHOOL SUCCESS OF
LOW-INCOME AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENTS
By
Carol L. Lacey
This study was a qualitative investigation exploring the perceptions of early and

late elementary school teachers regarding the quality of their relationships with students
at risk for poor school outcomes and the importance of this relationship to the school
success of these children. Information was gathered through semi-structured interviews
and narrative observations; emergent themes from the data were established through
coding and analysis. This study was conducted in order to obtain a rich understanding of
the nature and impact of the teacher-student relationship among the target population.
Teachers reported that they did view this relationship as having an inﬂuence on their
students‘ school success. Other ﬁndings related to teachers’ general perceptions of their
relationships with students, developmental differences, links to the theoretical framework,

teacher strategies and attributions, and teachers‘ perceptions of risk and resilience factors

affecting their students were discussed, as well.

Copyright by
CAROL LaSHAWN LACEY
2005

To my friends and family, and especially the love ofmy life.

iv

AC KNOW LEDGI‘IM IiNTS

I would like to thank the faculty on my dissertation committee for their tremendous help
and guidance through this process. I would also like to thank the faculty and students in
the School Psychology program for their support over the years. Finally, I am deeply
appreciative of the mentorship, friendship. relationship I have shared with my adviser,

Jean.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1
CHAPTER 1
LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................... 4
An Attachment Framework .......................................................... 4
Factors of Risk and Resilience... ................................................................... 13
Research Questions and Hypotheses ............................................... 22
CHAPTER 2
METHODS .................................................................................... 23
Participants ........................................................................... 23
Procedures ............................................................................ 26
Measures .............................................................................. 27
Analysis ............................................................................... 28
CHAPTER 3
FINDINGS/ASSERTIONS........ ............................................................................. 31
Contributions of Teacher-Student Relationship
to Students’ School Success 31
Teachers’ Perceptions of their Relationships with Students .................... 38
Fit Between Attachment Theory
and Present Study’s Findings of T-S Relationship Quality ............ 47
Teacher Strategies to Build Positive Relationships with Students ............. 61
Teacher Attributions Related to Positive Relationships with Students ....... 70
Teacher perceptions of student risk and resilience factors:
implications for the teacher-student relationship ........................ 71
CHAPTER 4
DISCUSSION .................................................................................. 87
Implications of Pertinent Findings .................................................. 87
Limitations of Study ................................................................. 101
Directions for Future Research ..................................................... 101
Implications for Practice .............................................................. 102
APPENDIX ..................................................................................... 103
BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................. 107

vi

Table l :

Table 2:

Table 2.1:

Table 2.2:

Table 3:

Table 4:

Table 4.]:

LIST OF TABLES

Emergent Themes: Teacher-Student Relationships
as a Contributor to School Success ................................... 36

Emergent Themes: Teacher Perceptions
of Their Relationships with Students ................................ 42

Teachers" Communication of Care to Target Students ..................... 46

Teachers’ Perceptions of Relationship Quality:
Links to Constructs from Attachment Theory ...................... 59

Emergent Themes: Teacher Strategies

to Build Positive Relationships with Students ..................... 69
Emergent Themes: Teachers’ Perceptions of Student Risk Factors. . 76
Emergent Themes: Teacher Perceptions of Resilience ..................... 83

vii

Introduction

There are many people invested in the academic success of school-aged Children.
The opportunities created for children to fulfill their dreams and to develop into
productive adult members of society depend a great deal on their educational
achievements. When children are successful in school, it is a phenomenon to be
celebrated. However, when children are successful in school when they are not expected
to be, it is a phenomenon that warrants particular attention and acclaim.

Some students demonstrate high academic achievement while facing a variety of
Signiﬁcant risk factors for poor school outcomes. Circumstances such as poverty. cultural
differences between home, school. and/or community, and racial discrimination are of
concern to many minority students and their families (Jaggers & Carroll, 2002; Ladson-
Billings, 1994). For example, Jaggers & Carroll (2002) discuss the continued inﬂuence
that racial discrimination and resulting Stereotypes have on the education of African-
American children and youth. They also discuss ways in which culture contributes to
Black children’s education, through both African and European American traditions.
These and other factors will be discussed in greater detail in the next section. This study
focuses speciﬁcally on the impact of such issues on African-American students.

In Spite of these Signiﬁcant risk factors, there are students who thrive in the school
environment. Although there are many protective variables that could promote this
success, one that seems to be more powerful than others is the role of signiﬁcant adults
(Jaggers & Carroll, 2002; Bempechat, 1998). Aside from parents, teachers are perhaps
the most salient inﬂuence on children’s schooling. The educational beliefs and behaviors

of teachers have a strong inﬂuence on those formed by children.

In the classroom, teachers are expected (in addition to providing quality
instruction) to create a caring, socially supportive Ieaming environment for their students
in order to promote school success. One aspect of such a Ieaming environment is a warm.
positive relationship between the student and teacher. The social-emotional support that
teachers provide to students has a direct impact on the students’ academic achievement
(Pianta, 1999).

The present study explores teachers’ contributions to the academic success of
low-income, African-American elementary school students, Speciﬁcally related to
relationship quality between these teachers and students. The primary purpose is to obtain
in-depth descriptions of how elementary school teachers perceive their relationships with
low-income African American students as having a signiﬁcant inﬂuence on these
students’ academic success. The study will examine speciﬁc relational patterns,
informed by Attachment Theory (Bowlby, 1969; Pianta, 1999), such as closeness,
conﬂict, and dependency. It will also look at how teachers help these students to
problem-solve and overcome educational or social barriers.

This inquiry is framed within a Developmental Systems Perspective (Mash &
Barkley, 2002; Pianta, 2000; Ford & Lerner, 1992), which posits that there are multiple,
multi-Ievel factors that inﬂuence human functioning and development. Mash & Barkley
(2002) argue that these age-appropriate biological, social, and psychological factors are
dynamic and interactive. This suggests that children’s developmental experiences are
extremely complex and diverse relative to their individual interactions with their social
support systems. A Developmental Systems Perspective can be applied to explore the

whole range of issues that inﬂuence human interaction and growth. from socio-cultural

Ix.)

beliefs. to educational policy. to school climate, to individual cognitive/behavioral
patterns. Therefore, speciﬁc examination ofthe teacher-student relationship is embedded
within the context of other classroom-level systemic variables such as individual
personality characteristics, instructional style, distinct Ieaming strengths, etc, which are
themselves embedded within larger community-level systems.

For the purpose of this study, only the teacher-student relationship (a small but
highly Signiﬁcant part of a larger system) will be explored in detail. In order to capture
the social and psychological Signiﬁcance of this relationship, as well as continue the
tradition of research in this area, Attachment Theory (Ainsworth, 1978; Bowlby, 1969;
Howes & Hamilton, 1992; Pianta, 1994) is applied to conceptualize teachers’ perceptions
of the inﬂuence their relationships with students have on the students’ positive school
outcomes. Ideas from the risk and resilience literature, as well as developmental and
cultural constructs, are also used to establish relevance and predictions for this study.

This project is particularly important because studying instances of success
provides a better awareness of the factors and mechanisms that come together to promote
positive outcomes and prevent negative ones. “...our anxieties over school failure should
be driving our efforts to understand success” (Bempechat, 1998, p. 5). It is imperative
that professionals in education recognize the aspects of schooling that promote students’
optimal success, both socially and academically, so that they can implement more
supports to beneﬁt children and adolescents in need of increased educational resources.

This study takes a step toward adding to such a knowledge base.

CHAPTER 1

 

Review of the Literature
An Attachment Framework: Significance of the Teacher-Student Relationship

Relationships between teachers and students have been well established in the
literature as having a Si gniﬁcant connection to student’s academic and social-emotional
adjustment to school (Baker, 1999; Birch & Ladd, 1997; Murray & Greenberg, 2000;
Pianta, 1999). Positive, warm and supportive relationships between students and teachers
are associated with higher levels of academic achievement, social connectedness, and
satisfaction with school. Likewise, poor teacher-student relationship quality has been
associated with lower functioning in these areas. It is clear that the teacher-student
relationship is an important contextual factor that contributes to the healthy development
and well-being of school-aged children.

In recent years, there has been increased attention paid to teacher-student
relationship quality by researchers in education and psychology, particularly its role in
promoting positive social and educational development of students. This body of research
has been predominantly conceptualized using constructs derived from an attachment
framework (Howes & Hamilton, 1992; Pianta, 1994).

Attachment Theory (Ainsworth, 1978; Bowlby, 1969) is a framework to describe
the emotionally salient bond Shared between children and parents that has a profound
impact on children’s social/emotional development (i.e., ability to trust and to develop a
sense of self). Children use their parents (primary caregivers) as models from whom they
Ieam patterns of adult-child interactions. Bowlby (1969) posits that children form internal

working models of the world around them. In other words, they form mental

representations of their environment, including people who are close to them such as their
parents. They use these models to simulate interactions and Situations in their minds and
Ieam from this process how these interactions would likely unfold in the “real” world.
The types of interactions children have with their parents inform the nature of the internal
working models they create for themselves and use to make sense of their social world.
Parental attachment inﬂuences the degree of children’s current and future levels of social
adjustment, which, in turn, affects children’s abilities to form and maintain relationships.
Because children translate parental attachment patterns to subsequent adult-child
relationships, the nature of this interaction can used as a foundation to understand the
teacher-Child relationship. Howes and Hamilton (1992) found that young children’s
relationships with preschool teachers showed some of the same characteristics as parent-
child attachment, (although not as developmentally Signiﬁcant or emotionally salient).
They described children’s relatedness to teachers with the same constructs of attachment
used in Ainsworth’s Strange Situation study (1978): secure, ambivalent, and avoidant.
Secure relationships were described as those that are warm, supportive, positive, and in
which the teacher is highly involved with the child. Children with ambivalent
relationships were described as demanding and impatient, with an excessive need for
interactions with teachers. Finally, avoidant relationships were those in which children
were unresponsive and had very little physical contact with teachers. The authors found
that teachers were most involved with children classiﬁed as secure and were least
involved with children classiﬁed as avoidant. Children in the ambivalent category
experienced less teacher sensitivity and involvement than the secure children, but more

than their ambivalent peers. The children in this study formed internal working models of

their teachers which they used to help themselves understand appropriate adult-child
interactions. This study Shows that. similar to parent-child interactions, the nature of
teachers’ interactions with children inﬂuences the quality of their relationships.

Other researchers have followed this lead and expanded an attachment perspective
to the study of teacher-student relationship quality, and its Signiﬁcance, among children
beyond the preschool level (Birch & Ladd, 1997; Pianta, 1994; Saft & Pianta, 2001). In
the Pianta (1994) study, the teacher-student relationships of Kindergarteners were
grouped into 6 clusters, based on the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (Pianta, 1991):
Positively Involved (high warmth, closeness, and communication). Dependent (excessive
dependency on teacher; moderate conﬂict and anger), Dysfunctional (very high conﬂict,
anger, and troubled feelings), Functional/Average (moderate level of warmth,
communication, dependency, conﬂict, etc.), Angry/Dependent (high dependency, anger,
and troubled feelings, but moderately warm and communicative), and Uninvolved (very
low communication and warmth; moderately low conﬂict, anger, and dependency).

Pianta (1994) found that children’s levels of school adjustment in the ﬁrst grade
were distinctly different across these relationship clusters in Kindergarten. For example,
children whose relationships were described as Positively Involved and
F unctional/Average in kindergarten demonstrated higher competency than those children
whose relationships with teachers were Dysfunctional or Angry/ Dependant in a number
of areas related to Ieaming and classroom behaviors in grade 1. These included: higher
frustration tolerance, better work habits, and better social Skills with peers. Although the
teacher-child relationship is part of a much larger and complex developmental process

and cannot be considered a causal factor of school adjustment, it was identiﬁed as a

valuable contributor to children’s adjustment and a potentially strong avenue for
intervention.

Similarly, Birch & Ladd (1997) found dependency to be an important correlate of
school adjustment (i.e. academic performance, school attitude, and school involvement)
among Kindergarteners. Students who were highly dependent on their teachers were
hypothesized to be lower in maturity, academic achievement, and ability to do tasks on
their own than their independent classmates. A study of high school students found that a
lack of closeness with (or perceived support from) teachers can also lead to students’
perceptions of their school environment as hostile and impersonal. In the most extreme
cases, this can be a contributing factor in student alienation and/or dropout from school
(Rossi, 1994). It is not clear in these studies whether the student-teacher relationship has
an exclusively cause-effect inﬂuence on the outcomes measured independent of other
factors. However, evidence does suggest that this relationship is an essential feature of
students’ school experiences.

Although attachment theory has become a widely accepted framework for
conceptualizing the nature of teacher-student relationships, this work remains limited, in
general, to relatively young children. There is a concentration of studies exploring the
teacher-student relationship of child populations up to the early elementary level, but
empirical work to describe the relationship of teachers and older students within an
attachment paradigm is scarce. One objective of this study is to explore reasons for this
trend in the literature and to build support for the utility of attachment theory for both

early and older elementary children.

There are possible reasons why research in this area rarely uses an attachment
framework with older children that warrant attention. including issues related to
developmental appropriateness and the use of alternative models. Research grounded in
Attachment Theory (Bowlby, 1969) originally focused on very young children’s (i.e.,
infants and toddlers) bonds to their primary caregivers (i.e., mothers). This framework
was gradually expanded to slightly older children (i.e. preschoolers) and other caretakers
(i.e., fathers, siblings, daycare teachers) (Greenberg, Cicchetti, & Cummings, 1990;
Howes & Hamilton, 1992), and then to teacher-student relationships in early elementary
populations (Birch & Ladd, I997; Pianta, 1994). This attachment perspective continues to
dominate investigations in this area among school-aged children up to about the ﬁrst
grade. However, attachment theory has been Slow to expand to capture teacher-student
relational patterns of middle childhood to adolescent stages of development. This may be
due, in large part, to the fact that attachment theory is rarely used to conceptualize social
interactions within this age group, whether studying relationships with teachers or with
other signiﬁcant people such as parents or peers. Scholars do, however, return to using
attachment constructs to describe the nature and Signiﬁcance of intimate relationships in
adulthood (Feeney & Noller, 1996; Main, 1990). Although Attachment theory is
considered a developmental theory across the life Span, there is a gap in the literature
between constructs used in early childhood and those used in adulthood. It is the intention
of this study to add to the body of research that is beginning to bridge that gap.

For example, Murray and Greenberg (2000) explored the impact of teacher-
student relationships and students’ bonds to school on school adjustment in middle

childhood. They found that students who were classiﬁed as having poor relationships

with teachers and poor bonds with school had lower self and teacher-ratings on social and
emotional adjustment than the children classiﬁed as having positive relationships and
bonds. Their study provides further support for the utility of attachment constructs and
the importance of the teacher-student relationship for students in middle childhood.

The attachment paradigm may be seen by others as developmentally inappropriate
for this age group because patterns of social interaction are expected to change with time.
Constructs that are used to describe interactions among young children may not be as
appropriate to explain patterns among older children. Scholars have only recently begun
to consider developmental differences in attachment patterns of children, Speciﬁcally
regarding the nature of teacher-student relationships (Pianta, 1999; Saft & Pianta, 2001).
Saft & Pianta (2001) explored the nature of the teacher-student relationship in relation to
various teacher and student characteristics, including age of the student. The study
included a sample of kindergarten and ﬁrst-grade children. The data suggested that when
there were difﬁculties in a teacher-student relationship, Speciﬁc teacher expectations for
different groups (i.e., older vs. younger children) may magnify those problems.

Social interactions between teachers and older students are different than
teachers’ interactions with younger students. Although teachers of older students
typically provide some level of social-emotional support to students in addition to
academic instruction, teachers are not perceived as having a caretaking role and students
are not perceived as being Signiﬁcantly dependent (socially/emotionally) on the teacher.
In addition, the relationship is characterized as less emotionally salient than teachers’
relationships with younger children. Constructs such as caretaking, dependency, and

emotional bonds are the cornerstones of an attachment perspective. With that in mind, it

is not unreasonable that scholars have been Slow to adopt this perspective to
conceptualize interactions among teachers and older students.

Considering the beneﬁts that an attachment perspective can give to describe the
social interactions between teachers and older elementary students, it is reasonable to
assert that constructs derived from Attachment Theory can and Should be adapted to
deﬁne the qualities, and establish the importance, of this relationship. The rationale rests
in the fact that Attachment theory best captures the psychological and behavioral
mechanisms through which adult-child relationships Shape child outcomes across time
(Pianta, 1999), which will be discussed in detail Shortly.

Concepts associated with attachment, such as closeness, conﬂict/anger, and
dependency (Pianta, 1994), continue to be applicable to older elementary children. These
constructs Simply function in developmentally different ways. Children experience
emotional closeness and conﬂict with others, including their teachers, beyond early
elementary grades. However, this closeness or conﬂict is likely to, on average, become
progressively less exaggerated as children become increasingly able to regulate their
emotions and apply more sophisticated cognitions when interpreting their social world
(Cole & Cole, 1996). Similarly, older children and adolescents have developmentally
appropriate levels of dependency on others, particularly adults. Although this age group
is more biologically, psychologically, and socially capable than their younger
counterparts, they do not typically have the competencies necessary to be completely
self-sufﬁcient, academically or social-emotionally. Therefore, in school, teachers do

often take on a caretaking role (i.e. mediator, mentor). An attachment perspective can be

10

helpful in explaining both healthy development and dysfunction in these areas related to
teachers’ interactions with older children.

Although an attachment perspective has not yet been widely applied to relational
patterns between teachers and older children, other theoretical frameworks have been
more frequently used to describe this interaction. One such alternative paradigm is Social
Support Theory (Baker & Hamilton, 1998), which places more emphasis on children’s
perceived support from their social environment/context. A key source of support would
be a Child’s teacher. Furthermore, Since older students typically have more than one
teacher, this construct may be seen as more developmentally appropriate because it
highlights the importance of contextual support and the transactional nature of the
individual and his/her social environment, rather than emotional ties to a Speciﬁc person.

The key to making an attachment perspective compatible with the dynamic social
interactions typical of older children (or any age group) is to frame attachment constructs
within a developmental systems perspective which regards the child as a developing
system within a larger contextual system and the teacher-student relationship as a dyadic
subsystem serving as a bridge between the individual and the environment (Pianta, 1999).
For example, Pianta (1999) asserts that over time and repeated interactions, teachers and
students can come to know each other in such a way that their interactions begin to shape
each of their behaviors and/or responses to one another. Unlike their preschool
counterparts, elementary school children have an expanded ability to draw upon their
environmental and personal resources. These children are increasingly able to
demonstrate representational capacity: connecting symbols and words to their

experiences and using those symbols/words to regulate their experiences. This ability is

11

rooted in the attachment relationship children form with parents and non-parental adults
(teachers), where patterns of emotional bonds and behavioral regulation are established
through internal working models (Bowlby, 1969). The emergence and development of
representations has important implications for children’s capacity for self-control, and
their relationships with adults act as regulatory mechanisms that can enhance or hinder
this process. Such relationships have a particular impact on children’s regulation of their
motor activity/arousal, social behaviors, and emotions, as well as on the development of
academic competencies (Pianta, I999). Pianta (1999) suggests that the increased
organization, intentionality, functionality, and complexity of emotion regulation are what
distinguish those in early childhood from those in middle childhood. He goes on to say
that relationships with adults support the tolerance of anxiety and arousal and provide
labels for emotional states, models for responses to emotions, and direct instruction in the
management of emotions. Relationships with adults are also extremely important to
children’s acquisition of performance and academic Skills due to the fact that instruction
occurs within a social context. Children who feel emotionally isolated or distanced from
their teacher will not learn as well as students who share a close, warm relationship with
their teacher. Teacher-student relationships employ Similar mechanisms as those used to
support emotion-regulation to cultivate children’s academic growth.

In order for children to use their representational capacity to access the contextual
resources available to them, they usually must interact with an adult (i.e., teacher or
parent) and Share symbols/representations that are mutually meaningful. The relationship
between the adult and the child is a crucial aspect of communicating needs and goals to

one another and of the child’s ability to interact within a larger context. Interactions

12

between children and adults are most effective when they Show expressions of positive
affect, recognize and respond to the child’s signals for assistance, and allow the child to
explore alternatives. These types of interactions typically lead to children’s
representational shifts and growth (Pianta, 1999). Therefore, it is clear that the teacher-
student relationship, conceptualized from an attachment perspective, is a salient aspect of
development among younger and older elementary school children alike.

Converging constructs derived from developmental and attachment perspectives
can be very useful in understanding the nature of the teacher-child relationship
throughout childhood. The next section provides a rationale for an attachment perspective
as a strong foundation for recognizing the Speciﬁc contributions of this relationship to a
certain population. This study is centered on a group of at-risk students who are
demonstrating academic success “against the odds.” Using attachment theory within a
developmental systems framework, it is the primary goal of this study to recognize the

relative contribution of the teacher-student relationship to these students’ success.

Factors of Risk and Resilience-- Among Low-Income A frican-A merican Students:
Relation to Teacher—Student Relationship Quality

AS stated earlier, the purpose of this study is to better understand instances of
success relative to the association between teacher-student relationship quality and
positive school outcomes for at-risk students. The students in this study have experienced
high academic achievement despite having to negotiate Signiﬁcant risk factors for poor
school outcomes. In the psychological and educational literatures, this is called resilience.

The students in this study have demonstrated resilience while likely facing

(directly or indirectly) a complex combination of risk factors for poor school outcomes.

13

Examples of these risk factors include but are not limited to: l) poverty and lack of
educational resources; 2) cultural mismatch between home and school; and 3) racial
discrimination (Rossi, 1994). Land & Legters (2002) describe educational risk as a multi-
level construct which can be attributed to systemic deﬁcits in teaching and Ieaming, as
well as individual and family characteristics. They acknowledge the Shiﬂ in the
conceptualization of risk from cultural or individual deﬁcit models to factors related to
school systems and the economic and political contexts in which they function.

One of the most salient individual/family level risk factors is poverty. In the US,
poverty is confounded with minority status. In 1999, 33.1% of Black and 30.3% of
Hispanic children lived in poverty compared with 9.4% of White children (Land &
Legters, 2002). There are a plethora of educational, community, and family experiences
that are often profoundly impacted by low socio-economic status. In school, students may
have less access to important resources such as updated textbooks, quality instruction, or
computer technology due to lack of district funds. In the community, students may have
to negotiate social pressures to get involved in delinquent activities. At home, students
may not get to Spend much quality time with their parents because their parents have to
work extended hours to make ends meet.

Another important risk factor for poor school outcomes for the population in this
study is cultural mismatch between students’ home/community and their schools. Ogbu
(1988) deﬁnes culture as “a way of life shared by members of a population” (p. 11). The
present study is focused speciﬁcally on cultural factors related to ethnicity and socio-
economic status. Because schools are primarily based on European-American middle

class ideals, a group of low-income African American students may not ﬁnd an adequate

l4

personal relevance in or connection to the curriculum. For example, Hale (1986) asserts
that African-American children have unique Ieaming styles that are largely shaped by
their culture. (Although African-American individuals experience and adopt a wide range
of cultural practices and beliefs--as with any other ethnic group--, there are signiﬁcant
Similarities across many individuals (Hale, 1986; Ogbu, 1988; Tatum, 2003)). Hale
deﬁnes cognitive style as the process of utilizing logical skills. She cites Cohen’s (1969)
distinction between an analytical cognitive style and a relational cognitive style. The
former is a stimulus—centered, standardized, rigid, mechanical approach to Ieaming, while
the latter is a person/social-centered, creative, ﬂexible, affective approach to Ieaming.
Schools generally promote an analytical Ieaming style. However, many African-
American students, in particular, have been socialized to develop a relational style of
Ieaming. This disparity between the schools’ expectations of students’ Ieaming and the
students’ cognitive strengths can increasingly hinder these students’ Ieaming and
achievement as they progress through school. Such a disparity also affects the social
interactions the students have with their peers and teachers. A relational learner may be
perceived as disruptive or inappropriate in an analytic classroom.

The ﬁnal risk factor for poor school outcomes for low-income African-American
children to be addressed in this discussion is racial discrimination. This factor is, in many
ways, related to the aforementioned variables. Discrimination is often grounded in fear
and/or ignorance of differences. Therefore, students whose backgrounds are culturally
and/or economically different than that of most school personnel are at higher risk for
being discriminated against. Discrimination can occur in various forms, from overt

actions to subtle or even subconscious behaviors.

15

Jaggers, et al (2002) identiﬁed stereotyping as a common form ofdiscrimination
that has led to restrictions in African-Americans" opportunities for social mobility. In the
schools, this stereotyping most often takes the form of teacher expectations and academic
placement decisions. “Studies have consistently found that African American students
from elementary grades through high school are more likely to be placed in remedial or
low-track Classes, to be retained in grade, and to be suspended from school...Conversely,
African American students are less likely to be placed in gifted and talented, advanced
placement, college preparatory, or otherwise high-track classes (p. 52).” Such
stereotyping can signiﬁcantly undermine African-American students’ conﬁdence in their
own abilities and motivation in school. For this reason, some students may reject or
devalue academic achievement and label it as “White.” Other students, however, might
use such stereotyping as fuel to increase their motivation to succeed academically in
order to break through the discriminatory barriers that were imposed on them. This group
of students demonstrates one of the premiere features of resilience.

Resilient students are those who are demonstrating school success despite having
to deal with Signiﬁcant risk factors for poor school outcomes. Masten & Coatsworth
(1998) deﬁne the study of resilience as “how children overcome adversity to achieve
good developmental outcomes (p. 205).” These good developmental outcomes may
include demonstrating behavioral, social/emotional, or academic competence at home,
school, or in the community.

There are both within-child and contextual factors that promote resilience.
Individual characteristics such as intellectual functioning, self-motivation and conﬁdence,

and strong social Skills are associated with positive developmental outcomes for at-risk

l6

children (Masten & Coatsworth, 1998; Wang & Hartel, 1994) These authors also identify
family, community, and school-level factors associated with positive outcomes, including
close relationships with Signiﬁcant adults (i.e. parents and teachers), high expectations,
connections to prosocial organizations, peer support, and adequate Ieaming resources. In
addition, Masten and her colleague suggest that these individual strengths and contextual
supports are fundamental systems that generally promote competence in all children,
regardless of their level of risk. Therefore, the qualities that promote resilience are not
necessarily unique or mysterious, but rather they are basic protective systems that help at-
risk children to better negotiate the hardships they face.

There are speciﬁc strategies that teachers have employed to promote educational
resilience, particularly among African—American students. One strategy that has been
supported by research is incorporating culturally relevant communication and learning
resources into the Classroom (Gay, 2000; Ladson-Billings, 1994). Gay (2000) discusses
the importance of culturally responsive pedagogy, including curriculum, instruction, and
expression of care as facilitators of school success. Students need to know that their
cultural backgrounds are valued in the educational setting in order to develop a sense of
assurance in their own abilities, talents, and contributions to the classroom. They also
need to know that their teachers have a Sincere personal interest in their school success so
that they can internalize the conﬁdence and encouragement of their teachers. Ladson-
Billings (1994) gives a rich description of culturally responsive teachers:

“[ They] can be identified by the way they see themselves and others... They
believe that all their students can succeed rather than that failure is inevitable for
some... They help students to make connections between their local, national, racial,

cultural, and global identities. Such teachers can also be identified by the way they
structure their social interactions: Their relationships with students are ﬂuid and

I7

equitable and extend beyond the classroom. They demonstrate a connectedness with all
of their students and encourage that same connectedness between the students (p. 25). "
Attending to and regarding students’ cultural strengths is a particularly important
endeavor that teachers must apply to building positive relationships with students of
color.

From a Developmental Systems Perspective, Pianta & Walsh (1998) caution
researchers and educators not to locate resilience as residing within the child, school,
and/or home/community, but rather to recognize its place in the interaction and
relationships between these domains of human functioning and development. This is an
important distinction in order to better understand the extremely complex mechanisms by
which child, home and school factors promote competence for at-risk children. Resilience
is developed and manifested over time in different ways across the interactions between
individuals, schools, and families.

Research has suggested that apositive relationship with the teacher is associated
with favorable school outcomes for at-risk children (Baker, 1999; Baker, 1998). Baker
(1999) found that, among a population of low-income African American elementary
school students, those who expressed increased school satisfaction also reported having
more caring and supportive relationships with teachers. It is plausible that such
connections between students and teachers play a signiﬁcant role in fostering educational
resilience.

The teacher-student relationship can act as a protective mechanism for students at
risk for poor school outcomes. As discussed earlier, Pianta (1999) offered an account of

the regulatory processes that are Shaped in developmentally distinct ways by children’s

l8

relationships with signiﬁcant adults, including emotion-regulation and academic
competencies. This relationship also buffers certain risk factors by creating “a branch on
an expected developmental pathway” (Pianta, 1999, p. 13). In other words, a positive
teacher-student relationship can disrupt the course of a student who may be headed
toward negative school outcomes and shift that course toward more favorable outcomes.
Relationships with adults are important regulators of Children’s development and, more
speciﬁcally, relationships with teachers are important regulators students’ school
outcomes because these adult-child relationships help to form and shape the
developmental pathways that children travel. However, it is argued that there is a window
of opportunity during the early school years in which children’s educational outcomes are
more malleable or ﬂexible since their educational pathways are fairly predictable by the
end of the third grade (Pianta, 1999). Although this does not mean that the teacher-
student relationship cannot be inﬂuential to student success after the third grade, this
ﬁnding may contribute to possible differences among early and late elementary school
teachers regarding the extent to which they perceive their relationships with students as a
salient support of the students’ academic success.

There are developmentally distinct teacher perceptions of their relationships with
students and these perceptions can inﬂuence the nature of this relationship. For example,
Pianta (1999) interviewed teachers at various elementary grades regarding the nature of
their relationships with students. A kindergarten teacher described her relationship with a
particular student as caring, trusting, and as having a mutual sense of admiration. Her
perceptions seemed to emphasize reciprocity between herself and the student and her role

as a source of emotional support for the student. On the other hand, a ﬁfth-grade teacher

19

expressed beliefs that were strongly oriented toward student independence and autonomy
and the relationships she formed with students tended to lack attention to emotional needs
or dependency. Although her relational patterns showed relative distance from emotion,
she seemed create an inviting atmosphere for her students and to treat them with high
regard and respect. Pianta’s ﬁndings have important implications for patterns in the data
that may emerge in the present study. Differences may exist related to how Kindergarten
teachers perceive their relationships with students compared to the perceptions ﬁfth-grade
teachers. However, the relative signiﬁcance of this relationship to students’ educational
outcomes should be sustained across grade levels.

It is reasonable to assert that the teacher-student relationship works in
developmentally Similar ways as a protective mechanism among the population in this
study because such a relationship is just as necessary a component of the psychological
and educational development of low-income African-American students (Hale, 1987;
Ladson-Billings, 1994) as it would be for any other group. Ladson-Billings (1994)
proposed that the teacher-student relationship can serve as a bridge between the school
culture and the students’ culture so that African-American students’ school experiences
are culturally relevant and their cultural perspectives are valued and recognized within
the school building. The relationship between student and teacher is a mutual exchange of
information and sharing of values, trust, and caring. As Pianta (1999) suggested, it is a
regulatory mechanism that helps to shape various developmentally speciﬁc psychological
and educational functions, particularly academic and social competence. Teachers serve
as models for demonstrating academic skills, behaviors, and social interactions. They are

also a source of encouragement and emotional support. Building a cultural bridge means

20

that teachers strive to develop and maintain a sense of connectedness with students,
which includes establishing bonds and commonalities with each individual student rather
than preferential alliances with certain students.

The teacher-student relationship can be a particularly important connection for
low-income African-American students. Irvine (1991) posited that many of these students
consider their teachers to be Signiﬁcant others in their lives, which has a profound impact
on their self-images. Many children who believe that their teacher does not like them do
not like themselves or school. And, this effect may be exaggerated among low-income
African-American students because they tend to hold their teachers in higher regard
relative to middle class students. Because the opinion of teachers has such a powerful
inﬂuence on Black students’ self-perceptions and academic achievement, it is imperative
that teachers establish a warm, pleasant, accepting presence when interacting with these
Students, as well as clear communication of their conﬁdence in the student’s abilities and
responsiveness to the individual needs of students. This is best created through a positive,
perceptive, emotionally vested relationship between the student and the teacher.

The present study provides an exploration into teachers’ perceptions of
relationship quality with low-income African-American elementary school students,
Speciﬁcally related to the impact of their relationships on the students’ academic success
and their use of relationship-building strategies. This is focused solely on teachers’
perceptions in order to gain a better understanding of the ideas and values that guide their
instructional practices and interactions in the classroom. Teacher perceptions drive their

behaviors, which are directly related to student behaviors and educational outcomes.

21

Therefore, understanding more about teacher perceptions has implications for both

teacher practice and student Ieaming.

Research Questions and Hypotheses
The speciﬁc questions which this study will explore are as follows:
1) To what extent do teachers perceive their relationships with students (at-risk for poor
school outcomes) as contributing to these students’ school success?
2) Does Attachment Theory accurately describe the nature of the relationship between the
teachers and students in this study?
3) What are the teachers’ perceptions of their relationships with these students?
4) What strategies do teachers employ to build positive relationships with students?
5) To what do teachers attribute positive (warm, caring) relationships with students?
Consistent with the theoretical foundation discussed in the literature review, it is
expected that teachers will, in general, describe their relationships with their students as
positive, warm, caring, and with age-speciﬁc types of interactions. They are expected to
identifyI efforts and strategies that they apply to building positive relationships with
students. In addition, teachers will likely attribute the students’ academic success to a
range variables or characteristics, including the quality of relationship between
themselves and the students. And, the quality of relationship will likely be attributed to a
range of individual and contextual factors. Finally, it is anticipated that the ways in which
teachers describe their relationships with student will be adequately reﬂected in the

conceptual framework guiding this study.

22

CHAPTER 2

 

Methods

Qualitative methods were used to provide rich, in-depth descriptions of the
phenomena considered by this study. The design of this study employed a basic or
generic approach, as described by Merriam (2000): “. . .the term basic or generic
qualitative study refers to studies that. . .simply seek to discover and understand a
phenomenon, a process, or the perspectives and worldviews of the people involved.”
These types of studies are typically grounded in existing theory and use concepts from
that theory to guide the analysis of the data. The present study used grounded theory to
explore teachers’ perspectives and views related to their relationships with and school
success of certain student in their classrooms.

Participants: Four Kindergarten and four ﬁfth grade teachers from two schools in
an urban school district were selected to participate in the study. One of the schools,
“Titan Elementary,” had a predominantly African American student body (about 20 per
classroom), as well as staff. The other school, “Windstar Elementary,” had a majority
Hispanic student body, with about 3 African American students per classroom, and a
mostly European American staff. These grade levels were chosen in order to: 1) add to
an established body of literature on relationship quality for early elementary students, 2)
contribute to a developing body of literature examining teacher-student relationship
quality for students in middle childhood, and 3) explore the consistency of developmental
differences and similarities between the two grade levels described in the literature vs.

those found in this study. Below is a brief description of each teacher:

23

MS. Stark

Ms. Stark was an African American 5‘h grade teacher at Windstar Elementary
who had taught at that grade for the past 1 1 years. She had spent her 15-year career at the
same school. Before teaching the 5‘h grade, she taught Kindergarten, 15‘, 3rd, and 4’h
grade. Ms Stark. said that She’d always known She wanted a career being around and
helping children. After exploring the medical ﬁeld for a while, She eventually decided
against it and went into education. She described her primary roles as a teacher as diverse
and constantly changing to meet the needs of her students. Her student’s name was Dana.

Ms. Mitchell

Ms. Mitchell was an African American 5’h grade teacher at Titan Elementary who
had Spent her 2-year career teaching at the same school and the same grade. She became
attracted to teaching after working in a recreational center with children. Her primary
roles as a teacher are to ensure that they understand the curriculum while minimizing
their frustration, and generally being a help and comfort to her students. Her student’s
name was Daniel

Ms. Lang

MS. Lang was an Irish American 5th grade teacher at Windstar Elementary who
had been teaching for 32 years. It was her 10'h year teaching the 5th grade. She had spent
time previously teaching Special Education at the middle school level in Michigan. She
came from a “long line” of educators; both of her parents were educators, and it was
something that She always knew she wanted to do. She deﬁned her primary role as one of

leadership and guidance and to ensure that every child got the best possible education

regardless of their ability levels or individual backgrounds. Her student’s name was
Zavion.

MS. Dylan

MS. Dylan was an African American 5th grade teacher at Titan Elementary who
had been teaching a total of seven years. It was her 3rd year teaching the 5th grade. Prior
to that, she taught men over the age of 18 at a correctional institution. Although She
began her career as a drug rehab counselor with the correctional institution, she
eventually decided that she would be more effective addressing the educational needs of
these men. Her primary role is to prepare her students well for whatever they may
encounter in their lives, academically or socially. She also selected Daniel as her target
student.

MS. Poole

MS. Poole was a European American Kindergarten teacher at Windstar
Elementary. Her 3-year career had been spent at the same school, and she had been
teaching K for the past 2 years. She excitedly identiﬁed kids as her attraction to teaching.
After considering being a pediatrician, explored teaching and found a good match. She
described her primary role as being a facilitator for her students’ Ieaming, Simply
following their own desire to learn most of the time. Her student’s name was Keith.

MS. Mason

MS. Mason was a European American Kindergarten teacher at Windstar
Elementary who taught a total of 15 years. It was her second year at her present school
and she had taught K for all except 2 years of her career. She said that the schedule of

teaching was an attraction because it allowed her to spend more time with her kids, as

well as the fact that she liked kids and felt She could be an effective teacher. She
described her primary roles as disciplinarian, facilitator, and teacher of basic skills so that
they have the foundation to be life-long learners. Her student’s name was Kevin.

MS. Richards

MS. Richards was an African American Kindergarten teacher at Titan Elementary
who had been teaching for 3 years, all at the same school. It was her 2nd year teaching K.
After ﬁghting or avoiding following her family’s tradition of teachers for a long time, she
was eventually faced with teaching or unemployment and chose the former. Once she
started, she realized that She enjoyed it immensely. Her primary role was to set the
foundation for her students’ education, identify the individual Ieaming styles and needs
of the students, and when necessary be more nurturing and in tune with the children’s
needs. Her student’s name was Deanna.

MS. London

Ms. London was an African American Kindergarten teacher at Titan Elementary
in her 1” year of teaching. She became interested in teaching full time after substituting
for a while and being intrigued by the different approaches to Ieaming demonstrated by
the students. Her primary role was to ensure that her students felt safe and comfortable in
the classroom environment, which would serve to promote their Ieaming. Her student’s
name was David.

Procedures: Approval to conduct the study was obtained from the university and
from the school district. Teachers were recruited directly by letter. After teacher consent
was obtained and ethical considerations are addressed, the teachers participated in a one-

on-one 45-minute interview with the researcher conducting this study. They were also

26

observed in the classroom twice, each time for 30 minutes, by this researcher. By
employing both observations and interviews, this project sought to obtain multiple
methods of capturing the processes of the relationships between the teachers and students
in this study. Also, multiple sources of data were involved to add to the dependability and
internal validity of the data (Merriam, 2001). These issues are discussed in further detail
toward the end of this section.

Measures: A semi-structured interview protocol, derived from Attachment Theory
within a Developmental Systems Perspective, was the tool used to collect the data. The
protocol was created by this author, with the help of published resources (Pianta, 1994;
Pianta, 1999; Sands & Doll, I996). The questions address individual, contextual, and
relational factors that may inﬂuence relationship quality between students and teachers.
The protocol was developed and reﬁned over the course of a year; it was piloted with two
fourth-grade teachers in a previous study. The data collected from the pilot interviews
suggested that the protocol appropriately obtained the target information, and
modiﬁcations were made according to strengths and limitations revealed by these
interviews.

A narrative observation was used to capture the teachers’ relational patterns and
provide an illustration of the ideas and perceptions obtained from the interviews. The
observation protocol was developed by the researcher and provided a systematic,
continuous written account of what was seen as it unfolded in the classroom. The
observations focused particular attention on instructional and social, verbal and non-
verbal, interactions between the teachers and students, but also attended to general

contextual features of the classroom such as social climate and physical appearance.

27

A brief follow-up interview protocol, developed by the researcher, was used to
gather additional information the teachers wanted to provide regarding the initial
interview and address interactions or events seen in the observations.

Analysis: Conclusions from the data were established through a process of coding
and analyzing, which includes a search for themes and variables, creating a logical chain
of evidence consistent with the theoretical framework of the study, and veriﬁcation of the
meanings generated by this process (Shank, 2002). The interview data was coded--
transcribed and organized according to emergent themes--into a cross-case display
(Shank, 2002). In other words, speciﬁc patterns across the teachers’ responses were
sought after, related to this study’s theoretical foundation and research questions, and the
data was categorized accordingly. Data from the observations was similarly coded to
extrapolate behavioral patterns. The next step will be to identify or conﬁrm the important
and intervening variables (inﬂuential factors) operating in the study and determine
whether those variables are too complex, too Simple, or appropriately capture the nature
and Signiﬁcance of the relationship between the teachers and students in this study. After
the variables are identiﬁed and determined to be appropriate, connections between
variables were established to create plausible explanations for the phenomena reﬂected in
the data (Shank, 2002). Once meaning of the data was generated, it was veriﬁed by
demonstrating the intemal/extemal validity and reliability of the ﬁndings, as discussed
below.

Comparative analyses across observation and interview data were also employed
to reﬁne and/or conﬁrm emerging themes, variables, and chains of evidence. This

allowed for a more credible transition from an empirical to a conceptual view of the data,

28

in terms of forming categories and establishing relationships between those categories
(Merriam, 2001).

Issues of Validity and Reliability: Qualitative research is distinguished by its
depth of description and attention to detail. Because of its unique perspective, a
qualitative approach employs a different interpretation of intemal/extemal validity and
reliability than does a quantitative approach. Internal validity is a measure of how well
the research ﬁndings match reality. Qualitative researchers can utilize particular
strategies to enhance internal validity, including peer examination, clarifying researcher
biases (assumptions, world view, theoretical framework), and triangulation of data
(Merriam, 2001 ). Peer examination refers to having colleagues review the research
ﬁndings as they emerge, while triangulation refers to having multiple sources of data,
multiple methods, and/or multiple investigators to support the ﬁndings. External validity
is a measure of how “generalizable” the ﬁndings are to other situations. For qualitative
research, this may be considered in terms of the ability to extract a universal from a
particular. In other words, it is the capacity to draw on tacit knowledge or someone’s
experiences and establish similarities with one’s own patterns or experiences. This is
often called user or naturalistic generalization (Merriam, 2001).

Reliability, in qualitative research, refers to the extent to which research ﬁndings
can be replicated. Because qualitative researchers seek to describe the world as those in
the world experience it and human behavior and interactions are dynamic, there is no
benchmark to take repeated measures and establish reliability in the traditional sense.
“Because what is being studied in education is assumed to be in ﬂux, multifaceted, and

highly contextual [and] because information gathered is a function of who gives it and

29

how skilled the researcher is at getting it. . .achieving reliability in the traditional sense is
not only fanciful but impossible. Furthermore. . .replication of a qualitative study will not
yield the same results. That fact, however, does not discredit the results of the original
study” (Merriam, 2001, p. 206). The intemaI/external validity and reliability for this

study was established through examination of the instruments and analytic techniques.

30

CHAPTER 3

 

F indings/Assertions

Teacher perceptions of their relationships with speciﬁc African Americans
students from low-income families, and the role their relationships played in these
students success, were explored through a series of interviews and observations described
in the previous chapter. This chapter takes a detailed look at the data, particularly themes
that emerged relevant to the research questions. The participants in this study Shared their
ideas about various factors that affect the school functioning of students, including their
general approach to teaching and discipline style, their expectations of students Ieaming
and behavior, strategies they employ to support and engage students in Ieaming, parental
involvement, personal and academic strengths of individual students, and aspects of their
relationships with individual students. Discussion of these factors provided a rich context
in which to explore the primary research question: the role of the teacher-student
relationship in promoting the school success of the students in this study. Findings and
assertions most pertinent to the primary research question are presented ﬁrst, followed by

those related to the supporting questions. Here are the teachers’ voices:

To what extent do teachers perceive their relationships with students (at-risk for
poor school outcomes) as contributing to these students’ school success?
Contributions of Teacher-Student Relationship to Students ’ School Success

There was a general consensus among both Kindergarten and 5th grade teachers
that their relationships with the target students were noteworthy contributors to those

students’ success in school. Deﬁning features of the relationships’ signiﬁcance included:

31

l) the extent to which students felt comfortable and accepted by the teacher; 2) the
amount of encouragement/support provided by the teacher; 3) students’ desire to please
their teachers; 4) the relationship as a foundation for future school experiences; and, most
notably, 5) the teacher as a mentor and/or role model to students. There was also one
teacher who did not acknowledge the relationship as a Signiﬁcant contributor to her
student’s school success. (See Table I)

The most common factor identiﬁed by teachers, related to the impact of their
relationship on the students’ success, was that they saw themselves as mentors and/or role
models to their students. 5m grade teachers tended to comment on this variable in their
initial responses to this question, while Kindergarten teachers typically Shared their
perceptions of this factor after being prompted to do so. The importance of being a role
model/mentor, however, was consistent across grade levels. When asked about the

relationship as a contributor to her student’s, Dana’s, success, Ms. Stark commented:

“Well, I would hope that she views me as a successful African American woman, and see
that and emulate it. Maybe not so much as be a teacher, but in whatever She decides to
do. I hope that from our relationship, She will see a glimpse of success, if not a lot of
success, and like I said emulate that pattern.”

It was clear that Ms. Stark viewed herself as someone who was obligated to set good
examples and conduct herself in a way that she would want her student to emulate. She
presented herself as an illustration of achievement, and seemed to encourage her student

to establish and achieve her own goals. MS. Stark went on to say:

“Cheryl Swoops is a good role model, Michael Jordan might be a good role model,
Allen lverson, and whatever. But I think that they’re unreachable, you know what I
mean? Because they can’t—they just see ‘on the court’ so to have a real live role
model in front of them where they can see me everyday; you know, they can see your
goals and everything, without you even mentioning it. They can see who you are and

32

what you are and what you stand for. And, hopefully, they can pattern themselves
after that.”

The relationship, or proximity, between the student and teacher was identiﬁed as a
powerful tool to encourage and inspire students to imitate a pattern of achievement.
Another 5th grade teacher, MS. Lang, provided a Similar response (see Table 1). She
indicated that she tried to model qualities such as honesty, hard work, and loyalty to
Zavion and the rest of her students. These were qualities and values that she felt were
necessary to be successful in school and in life.

Many of the Kindergarten teachers also noted the importance of being a
mentor/role model. When asked if She felt as if She were a role model to Keith, MS. Poole
said:

“I guess in some way, I’m a role model... I guess I feel like I’m a role model to all
the kids, not just him, ‘cause they see us here everyday and they see that we have a
job and that we’ve worked hard, and, I don’t know. I guess just, you know, being
here and trying to support them as Show them that you love them and helping out.

They feel comfort and a lot of times you feel that they look up to you; somebody they
feel comfortable with.”

Consistent with the views of Ms. Stark and MS. Lang, MS. Poole identiﬁed herself as a
person Keith and her other students admired and with whom they felt comfortable. These
teachers’ perceptions of themselves as a role model and/or mentor to their students is a
reﬂection the salient role their relationship plays in teaching, encouraging, and inspiring
successful school outcomes for the students in this study. MS. Dylan told of a moment
She Shared with her student, Daniel:

“He told me that, um, he wanted to be a math teacher and I’m his math teacher, so.
(smile, laugh) So, you know, I feel like he’s that one student that you know, you’ll follow
for a while, you know, even after they leave. I feel like he’s one of those students that I’ll
probably follow for a while.”

The pride that she felt as she told this story was clearly evident.

33

Another theme that emerged as a connection between teacher-student
relationships and the students’ school success was the extent to which students felt
accepted and comfortable around the teacher. When asked if she felt her relationship with
David was a Signiﬁcant contributor to his school success, Ms. London replied:

“Oh, I think it has a lot to do with it, not just—well yeah—l think it has a lot to do with
it. If you know that you’re accepted and loved and cared about, I think they’ll perform better as
opposed to being in a hostile environment. I think everyone performs better in a more nurturing
environment, and like I said, I just try to make the environment as nurturing and positive as
possible.”

It appeared that Ms. London felt strongly about creating a cohesive and

emotionally safe environment in which her students could Ieam and perform.
Establishing a positive relationship with David that reﬂected a sense of acceptance and
emotional connection was, to her. a necessary component of promoting his achievement.
MS. Poole and MS. Dylan also noted the importance of their students’ comfort level and
feeling safe enough to seek help from them when they need it (see Table 1). Therefore,
establishing and maintaining a sense of unconditional acceptance for the student, free
from worry of hostility or criticism from the teacher, was identiﬁed by teachers across
both grade levels as signiﬁcant contributors to positive school-outcomes for these

students.

Encouragement and support from the teacher emerged as theme, particularly from
some of the responses of the 5th grade teachers (see table I). The idea that teachers were
available as resource for students, to provide them with help or guidance to meet their
educational needs, was another factor that these teachers considered pertinent to the
success of their students. Independent of the emotions or feelings associated with the

teacher-student relationship, this theme reﬂected some teachers’ perceptions that their

34

students viewed them as available to support them with solving problems and to give
them feedback to encourage their performance.

Both Kindergarten and 5lh grade teachers identiﬁed their students’ desire to please
them as a theme or factor linking their relationship to the students’ school success (see
Table 1). Some teachers felt that their students really valued their opinion and had a need
for their approval. Therefore, students performed at a high level and met the teachers’
expectations in order to gain recognition from the teachers and avoid disappointing them.

One of the Kindergarten teachers, Ms. Mason, shared an impassioned perception
of her relationship with Kevin as a foundation for his opinion of school and subsequent
performance in school (see Table 1). She emphasized the need to be “careful” with them,
suggesting that She and other teachers had a vital responsibility to maintain positive
relationships with students so that they realize their potential, and that building those
relationships was a sensitive and delicate process that had to be handled with care. She
also suggested that because this was Kevin’s ﬁrst experience in school, the relationship
she has with him would likely set the tone for the rest of his school career. She, therefore,
perceived herself to be in an extremely inﬂuential position in this student’s life.

Finally, one of the Kindergarten teachers, MS. Richards, seemed to indicate that
she did not see her relationship with her student as a signiﬁcant contributor to that
student’s school success (see Table 1). She appeared to be convinced that Deanna’s
success was almost exclusively attributed to her own abilities and efforts. Ms. Richards
suggested that She thought Deanna would just as successful with another teacher or in
another setting. However, implicit in her words was an assumption that another teacher or

setting would provide an adequate amount of support.

35

Table 1

Emergent Themes: Teacher-Student Relationship as a Contributor to School Success

 

MENTOR/
ROLE MODEL

RELATIONSHIP AS
FOUNDATION

ACCEPTANCE/
COMFORT LEVEL

 

Kindergarten
Teachers

“...1 think anybody who
has a Close relationship
with a child and they
look up to somewhere in
their life...Um, he sees
me as a mentor ‘cause I
am his teacher. I correct
him, I encourage him,
you know, good and
bad; which I think a role
model should do. It
shouldn’t be one-
sided... I know he looks
up to me and he cares
about my opinion.”—
Ms. London

“...As a Kindergarten
teacher, I think, ‘oh, I’m their
ﬁrst experience with school
and ifthey don’t like me or
they don’t like the school,
they’re gonna hate school!’
So, I think it has lot to do
with it! I think the
Kindergarten teacher and the
relationship with their class,
their students, sets the tone.
And you just have to be so
careful and so, um,
understanding I guess. You
just have to be so careful,
you have to be so careful—
what you do and what you
say. I think that the better
relationship you have with
the child, the better his
success will be, ‘cause
you’re gonna set the tone for
the rest of his life, I think.” —
Ms. Mason

“I guess, the fact that he
feels comfortable, so he is
not—if he’s like struggling
with something, he
comfortable enough to come
ask me a question instead of
being scared that I’m gonna
criticize him or not want to
help him. He knows that he
can come up and I’ll help
him to better understand
things, and then feel—you
know—be more successful.”
—Ms. Poole

 

 

5th Grade
Teachers

 

“... I would hope that it
would be a contributing
factor to his success.
Um, I would hope that
he would look at me and
see that an adult can
indeed be your friend
and be someone who you
can talk to, as well as
being someone that can
guide you. I would hope
that he would understand
the importance of trying
very hard to obtain your
goals and honesty and
loyalty and those kinds
of things. I hope that I’ve
been that kind of a role
model. I guess time will
tell. —Ms. Lang

 

did not emerge in direct
relation to topic at this grade
level

 

“By, you know, him feeling
that he can come to me, you
know, as far as like asking
questions or if he needs help
with a certain topic or a
certain subject or something
like that you know. I think I
contribute some to his
success, but no, I don’t think
it’s all me (laugh), you
know, I think he has a lot to
do with it, a lot more to do
with it than I do”. -Ms.
Dylan

 

36

 

Table I, continued

 

DESIRE TO PLEASE

ENCOU RAG EM ENT/
SUPPORT

NOT SIGNIFICANT
CONTRIBUTOR

 

Kindergarten
Teachers

‘...‘ he knows my
expectations and what I
do to help him and teach
him, and he wants to
make me happy and
proud, and so he does

everything he can.”—-Ms.

London

did not emerge in direct
relation to topic at this grade
level

“I would like to think that
it contributes to it, but to be
honest, I think that She,
under most circumstances,
would probably be
successful. Like I said, I
would like to think I
contribute to it, but I, in all
fairness, think that that’s
her. You know, I don’t
think that any other teacher
would necessarily not bring
that out of her.” —Ms.
Richards

 

 

5lh Grade
Teachers

 

“I think he’s the type of
person where he doesn’t
want to disappoint
anybody, so he ﬁgures he
might as well go ahead
and do what he’s
supposed to do instead of
disappointing somebody
or, you know, me saying
something to him about
not doing what he’s
supposed to be doing,
because I’ve never had to
say, ‘D, you know, you
could have done that
better or you could have
this a little bit—you
could have done this, this
way.’ I’ve never had to
do that and I think part of
that is, I think that he
doesn’t want to
disappoint anybody...”—
Ms. Mitchell

 

“... I’m there to support as
well, like I said, and provide
him with the knowledge, you
know, that he’ll need and
offering my support, and just
letting him know if he needs
anything, you know, anything
within my realm, you know,
I’ll help him with it.” -MS.
Dylan

 

did not emerge in direct
relation to topic at this
grade level

 

37

 

What are the teachers’ perceptions of their relationships with these students?
And, do constructs derived from Attachment Theory accurately describe the nature

of the relationship between the teachers and students in this study?

Teachers’ Perceptions of their Relationships with Students

The teachers were asked to share their general perceptions of the relationships
they had with the African-American students from low-income families that were doing
well in their classrooms. Six major themes emerged from their responses: honesty and
trust, emotional salience, open communication, humor, Shared interests, and the
relationship as appropriate or professional. Generally, there was an overlap of themes
reﬂected in the teachers’ responses, or multiple themes were present within their
responses.

One of the emergent themes, at both grade levels, was a sense of honesty and trust
established between the teachers and their students. Ms. London’s comments (see Table
2) suggested that this was a central component to her relationship with David. Through
that honesty and trust, she felt that he knew She had his best interest at heart. She was also
able to put her trust in him due to her belief that he was “a good kid” and be conﬁdent
that he would make good decisions. MS. Stark also created a link between trust and
honesty when relating to her students (see Table 2). When asked about the extent to
which She established trust with Dana, her response suggested that it was a phenomenon

that happened over time and a series of interactions. She described herself as trustworthy

38

and dependable, and spoke of encouraging her students to demonstrate those
characteristics, as well.

Another theme that emerged from teacher responses was the emotional salience or
investment of the teachers regard to their relationships with students. Kindergarten and
5th grade teachers gave some indication that they had personal feelings associated with
the well-being of their students. MS. Mason convincingly expressed her emotional bond
with Kevin (see Table 2) in terms of love, respect, and generally free from negative
interactions. Her inclination to use love to describe the connection between her and Kevin
was unique to the Kindergarten teachers. Rather than referring to their emotional ties as
love, the 5"1 grade teachers tended to describe it as care, similar to Ms. Mitchell’s
response (see Table 2). Although it was clear that all of the teachers had some level of
emotional investment in their students, there was a polarizing difference in the way the
Kindergarten teachers verbally and nonverbally expressed that emotion to the students
compared to the 5 grade teachers. This is explored in further detail later in this section.

Open communication between the teachers and their students was also identiﬁed
as a Signiﬁcant feature of their relationships. As noted in the discussion of the previous
research question, many of the teachers, like MS. Poole (see Table 2), acknowledged how
important it was that their students felt comfortable talking to them. This set the
foundation for a safe environment in which the students could express their ideas or
conﬁde in the teacher and feel supported. Ms. Lang shared that not only did she talk to
Zavion about his home life, but She also told him about her own personal life (see Table
2). By ﬁnding a common ground on a more personal level, MS Lang was able to gain his

conﬁdence and cultivate openness in their communication.

39

Another theme that emerged from the teachers’ responses was the presence of
humor in their relationships with students, particularly the students targeted for the
present study. Many of the teachers noted their students’ ability to joke and laugh with
them and others. Ms. Mason thought that Kevin had a unique ability to understand certain
humor that most children wouldn’t (see Table 2). The fact that she was able to share that
with him seemed to, in her opinion, bring them closer. Ms. Mitchell also seemed
comfortable using humor in her relationship with Daniel. She Spoke of them joking back
and forth with each other. The humor served as a tool to make interactions between them
more pleasant.

One of the 5th grade teachers, MS. Stark, pointed to the fact that she had a
common interest with her student, Dana, as a pertinent aspect of their relationship (see
Table 2). Through their similar passion for sports, they were able to relate to one another
on a more personal level. There was a sense that Ms. Stark was able to Show a genuine
interest in things that Dana liked, which made Dana feel valued and supported.

The last major theme that emerged from the teachers’ general perceptions of their
relationships with student was the idea that the relationship was “appropriate” (see Table
2). Many teachers, interestingly at both grade levels, put emphasis on it being a “teacher-
student” relationship, suggesting that there were certain boundaries associated with that
relationship. These teachers seemed particularly cognizant of the need to conduct
themselves in a professional manner when interacting with students; they were concerned
with maintaining a balance between appropriate levels closeness to vs. distance from

their students. Ms. Richards, for example, was not as comfortable as some of the other

40

teachers using humor when interacting with Deanna, perhaps because She felt that that

would compromise her role as the teacher and/or Deanna’s role as the student.

41

Table 2

Emergent Themes: Teacher Perceptions of Their Relationships with Students

 

HONESTY/
TRUST

EMOTIONAL
SALIENCE

OPEN
COMMUNICATION

 

Kindergarten
Teachers

“Um, we have a good
relationship. It’s um,
nurturing, its—you know,
I’ll get onto him, but he
knows I‘m not doing it to
be mean or I‘m doing it to
correct him for his own,
for his own well-being. He
knows I have his well-
being at heart. We have an
honest relationship; he
trusts me, I trust him. Um,
he’s a good kid...”—Ms.
London

“We’ll I love him! I guess he
loves me too. (laugh) I don’t
know. It’s a teacher-student
relationship. you know. He
respects me and I respect
him. He tries hard in school
and I try to give him the
support he needs to be
successful. Pretty much, we
have good—there’s hardly
any negative interaction
between K and l. He pretty
much does was he’s supposed
to do.”—~Ms. Mason

“...I think we have good
communication. He comes and
talks to me, but I haven’t had
anybody come and tell me
anything serious. But, I think he
feels comfortable. If he had to
come tell me something, he
could.”-Ms. Poole

 

 

5‘h Grade
Teachers

 

“Due to the experiences
we’ve had, we’ve
established that trust. I put
my money where my
mouth is, and I encourage
my students to do the
same.”—Ms. Stark

 

“...he knows I have high
expectations for him. ljust
try to make sure he knows
it’s for a reason. It’s notjust
because I’m trying to be
mean. It‘s just because it’s,
you know, what I’m
supposed to do. It’s because I
really, really do care a whole
lot about him..."--Ms.
Mitchell

 

“I think we have a pretty open
relationship. As I’ve said, you
know, he comes and talks to me
about certain things. We talk
about home life; I talk about
mine, he talks about his. It’s a
pretty good relationship—as
good as you can have and not,
um, you know, not see a child
24/7.”——Ms. Lang

 

 

Table 2, continued

 

HUMOR

SHARED
INTERESTS

APPROPRIATE/
PROFESSIONAL

 

did not emerge in direct

 

 

Kindergarten “He’s really funny. He _ _ _ “Um, I guess I would say it’s
T h catches some, um, adult ”lam” ’0 "WC ‘7’ ”“5 grad" fairly good, you know, it’s an
eac ers humor that the other kids level appropriate relationship
don’t and he’ll smile and between a teacher and a
let me know that he student. Very good, good
caught it. And I don’t interaction. We can, I guess
know how often; not not necessarily play around
once a day, but maybe and joke around, but it’s not
like once or twice or always so rigid, you know, that
three times a month, type of thing.”—Ms. Richards
he’ll ﬁnd something
funny that I found funny
that others might not. So,
we try to laugh!”—MS.
Mason
51h Grade “He thinks I’m the “Well, um, good. We get “Oh, um, we have a very, you
Teachers dumbest person in the along. We talk about—a know, teacher-student, you

 

world! (laugh) He’ll
correct me in a minute
and I’lljust laugh. I mean
, he’s a really—he’s
good—he’s got good—
he’sjust a great kid. He
has a good personality, I
mean. Laughs and
interacts with everybody,
not just me...”—MS.
Mitchell

 

lot of times after school,
we talk about ‘what do
you like to do, what have
you been doing.’ Um she’s
into sports, and different
things. And, so I kind of
share that admiration as
far as Sports with her.
And, um, she comes to me
about problems that she
has, in and out of school.
So, I think that we kind of
have a good relationship
as her mentor.”—Ms.
Stark

 

know, good teacher student
relationship. I think he feels
comfortable, you know, with
asking me questions or, you
know, asking me about
different situations, whether
it’s education-wise of
something he’s dealing with,
with some of the other
students. Something like
that. . .”--Ms. Dylan

 

43

 

Kindergarten vs. 5'” Grade Teachers ' Perceptions of Emotional Ties to Students

Although teachers at both grade levels gave some indication of being emotionally
tied to their students, there was a clear difference between grade levels regarding their
perception of their role in expressing that emotion to their students. Each teacher was
asked how she communicated to the student targeted in the study that she cared about
him or her. Kindergarten teachers were more likely to give very direct indicators of
emotion, verbally and nonverbally, such as saying, “I love you,” or giving the student a
hug. Ms. Poole and MS. Richards, for example, talked about how they respond to their
students when the students tell them they love them or want to hug them. Also, Ms.
London and MS. Mason suggested that they would initiate ways to express to their
students that they care.

The 5th grade teachers, on the other hand, tended to give more indirect indicators
of their emotional investment. Their words and actions towards the students were meant
to imply that they cared rather than saying those actual words. Ms. Lang, for example,
stressed the importance of being honest with her students. By being honest, She was
communicating that she cared without actually saying, “I care about you.” MS. Stark and
MS. Dylan said that they relied on their actions and presence in the classroom to
communicate to their students that they cared about them. Ms. Stark, in particular,
pointed to her students’ ability to sense how She felt about them through her interactions
with them. MS. Mitchell shared that She took a more verbal approach to expressing care
to her student. However, she tended to praise his abilities and show concern for his future

rather than to tell him in concrete terms that she cared for him.

44

The differences seen here between the Kindergarten and 5th grade teachers were
reasonable given the developmental levels of their respective students. It was quite
normal to say “I love you” and give hugs to ﬁve-year-old children because at that age,
they were likely to be rather open with their emotions and connect with people fairly
easily. The ten-year-old students, however, had developed a more sophisticated
understanding of their emotions and were likely to be more selective and guarded when it
came to connecting with others. Therefore, the expression of care for them was more
subtle and less salient. Although it was manifested differently, there was emotional
salience between teachers and students at both grade levels. All of the teachers seemed to
feel tremendously for their students. When it came to determining how to best, or most

appropriately, communicate those feelings, they generally took cues from their students.

45

Table 2.]
Teachers’ Communication ofCare to Target Students

 

KINDERGARTEN

5T" GRADE

 

 

“Oh, I just give him positive reinforcement. Um,
a hug here and there, a smile here and there.
You know just, like I said, just positive
reinforcement basically.”—MS. Mason

“My kids this year are so affectionate. They
want to hug and, ‘I love you,’ and I just hug
them back and I tell them I love them. I mean, I
have—we hug all the time. They’re real ﬁiendly
this year! (laugh) This is the IS” year—I mean,
before, they’d want to give you a hug, but they
wanna hug you every time they go in an out of
the door! But it doesn’t bother me. Just, in the
morning, I tell them good morning and
acknowledge them individually instead of as a
whole.”—Ms. Poole

“Um, well, there are several different ways.
Given the age group, they are—she and the
other students typically tell me, ‘I love you,’ and
I let them know I love them, too. Um, you
know, there’s hugs. Of course, I have to let them
initiate it if they’re gonna. ..you know, because
of regulations and everything. But if she hugs
me, I respond back appropriately and I let her
know, you know, ‘I care about you, too.’ Urn,
just, you know, smiles of approval, that type of
thing.” —MS. Richards

“Oh, I tell him! I tell my kids I love them all the
time. And he knows, like if he does something
to upset me, he knows that I’m not really upset
with him, and then we’ll talk about it. He knows
why I’m upset and why he’s upset, and what we
can do next time to get around that—upsetting
each other.” —Ms. London

 

“Well, I mean actions speak louder than
words. I’ve probably told her in class several
times, you know, that, ‘I’m here for you, I’m
here to help you.’ But just by your actions; by
your looks... But they know. They’re very
perceptive. They know.”—Ms. Stark

“I’m very honest and up—what you see is
what you get. And they understand that. I tell
them point blank, just exactly the way I did
my own child or would anybody’s child. I
think children need to be—l don’t think
anything needs to be sugar-coated. They need
to understand that this is life, this is the way it
is, and I’m very frank and very honest with
my kids. And they appreciate that; not only do
they appreciate it, but they respect it. If I want
them to be honest with me, then I need to be
honest with them.”——Ms. Lang

“I tell him all the time, you know, um, I just
tell him all the time that he’s a I say, ‘you’re
just a great student,’ you know, ‘and I don’t
ever want you to slip through the cracks.’ We
talk about college and stuff. We talk about you
know, he’s hung up on being a basketball
player. And I’m like, ‘D, dude, that’s good.
I’m proud of you. But, you know you have a
better chance of getting struck by lightning!’
You know! (laugh) But, I mean, if you make
it, cool, but you know, I try to give him
realistic expectations and realistic goals, you
know. And, he doesn’t know about me trying
to ﬁnd a program for him to go through during
the summer, but he’s just too smart to not
just—not to be in something.” —Ms. Mitchell

 

“Oh just by, you know—(pause, breath), I
guess just being there and being able to, you
know, help them when they need help, or you
know, help them solve problems when they
need help with problems.”—-MS. Dylan

 

46

 

Fit Between Attachment Theory and Present Study is Findings of T -S Relationship Quality

The constructs used to conceptualize the relationships between the teachers and
their students in this study was derived from Attachment Theory. Speciﬁcally, the three
broad concepts employed to capture the relational processes between them were:
closeness, conﬂict, and dependency.

Closeness referred to the extent to which teachers perceived good communication,
warmth, caring, and trust between them and their students. It was very clear that most
teachers did perceive a signiﬁcant level of closeness with their students, particularly in
regard to the students focused on in the present study. One way that this closeness was
revealed was through the extent to which the teachers and students were able to establish
trust and communicate openly with each other. For example, there were several occasions
when Ms. Poole noted her student’s ability to talk openly with or conﬁde in her (see
Table 2.2). She felt that he trusted her enough to seek help from her when he needed it,
Share personal things with her, and remain conﬁdent that She would not betray his trust.
Although this is a strong indicator of closeness, Keith’s tendency to be that open with
Ms. Poole may have been a function of his age. AS a Kindergartener, he may not have
been as selective, when deciding who to Share things with and what to share, as an older
child would likely to have been. A Similar interaction did emerge, however, at the 5th
grade level. MS. Lang believed that her student, Zavion, trusted her completely,
particularly when it came to telling her things in conﬁdence. Again, this kind of trust and
communication reﬂects a certain level of closeness between teacher and student. While

the teachers often spoke of their students trust in them in terms of conﬁding in them, they

47

described their own trust in their students in terms of the students’ propensity to “do the
right thing.” Ms. Mason comments:

“I trust K. When it comes down to it, he does the right thing. And he trusts that if I tell him
something, I’m right.”

Ms. Mason believed that, although Kevin made mistakes on occasion, he would end up
making good decisions and behave appropriately. She was able to trust in that. When MS.
Lang talked about her trust in Zavion (see Table 2.2), she made similar mention of
trusting him to fulﬁll her expectations.

Another theme that reﬂected closeness was the emotional connection that teachers
felt with their students. As discussed earlier, teachers at both grade levels expressed
signiﬁcant feelings of warmth, care, and concern for their students. For example, when
asked to describe the relationship between her and Kevin, Ms. Mason immediately
professed that she loved him and that he, more than likely, loved her, too. MS. Mitchell
was also clearly emotionally invested in her student, saying that she really, really cared
about him. During the observations, these teachers and others were often seen interacting
warmly with their students. For example, Ms. Mitchell was observed cracking small
jokes with Daniel and smiling at him and her other students often. MS. Richards tended to
hug her students or hold them at her side when they came up to talk to her. She also
frequently referred to them as “baby.”

Although, as expected, closeness was a major deﬁning feature of the teacher-
student relationships in this study, these relationships were not without conﬂict. The
perceptions of conﬂict that emerged from the teachers’ responses were consistent with
what one might expect in any relationship between children and adults, students and

teachers. The instances of conﬂict were generally described as minor, isolated, and easily

48

resolved. There were a few conflicts, however, that were perceived as ongoing and/or
major. Ms. Stark was one of the teachers that gave an account of a conﬂict Situation that
was recurrent (see Table 2.2). She seemed to have been trying hard to ﬁnd an effective
way to stop Dana from talking so much in class. This conﬂict also seemed to be taking a
toll on both of them: MS. Stark had attempted many strategies to address this problem,
including involving Dana’s mother, and Dana had gotten upset to the point of crying on
at least one occasion. Even though Ms. Stark perceived this to be an ongoing, concerning
conﬂict, there was a sense that the relationship between her and Dana remained generally
positive and that her outlook on the situation was hopeful.

Ms. Lang identiﬁed a few major conﬂicts over power and control that She
experienced with Zavion toward the beginning of the school year:

“Um, at the beginning of the year, we had one or two major conﬂicts where he had to
understand that there had to be someone who rules and who, you know, leads and what have
you. And that had to be me. Um, I don’t think he had a lot of that in his life. He had dug his
heels in, other years, and just puffed up and crossed his arms and, you know, copped an
attitude. He did that at the very onset of this year for about the 15’ two weeks, and then we
just, [Ms. S] and I both, we just talked to him and we explained to him, both of us, that we
were doing it for his own good. And, um, I think he understands now, that these are people
that really and genuinely care about him, honestly care about him, and are interested not only
in his academic life, but his life, period; and how things are going at home, and how the
football team is doing... And that means a lot to the kids...”

perception that he was defensive and did not want to be told what to do. After more
rapport was established when she and the other 5’h grade teacher talked to him
individually, he was able to let his guard down and be convinced that the structure was
necessary to support his Ieaming and performance in school. This series of conﬂicts was
resolved by the teachers showing interest in and concern for the student as an individual.
And, they laid the foundation for a positive relationship with him, through which he

would continue to feel supported and cared for.

49

Most of the other conﬂicts discussed by teachers were described as minor. MS
Richards talked about conﬂict related to Deanna not following instructions or occasional
resistance from her when she’s Ieaming something for the ﬁrst time:

“At times, this doesn’t happen all the time, but when we’re Ieaming something new... I get
the ‘l can’ts’ and l have to encourage her that, ‘it’s ok, you have to try, you don’t know that
you can’t do it,’ that type of thing and encourage her from that. Most of the time, whatever
difﬁculties I may have are pretty much minor. Occasionally, I mean she’s a kid, so
occasionally she does do what she wants to do regardless of what my instructions may be
(laugh) and ljust kind of gently remind her, you know, ‘you need to follow directions,’ that
type of thing.”

The conﬂicts Ms. Richards described here were, in her eyes, easily resolved. She noted
the importance of encouraging Deanna to try when she lost her conﬁdence or questioned
her ability. It was implied that Deanna typically responded well to that encouragement;
Ms. Richards did not seem to indicate that her resistance lingered. And when Deanna is
off task or not following directions, a gentle reminder seemed to do the trick. The idea
that sometimes the students just needed a little push to maintain their perforance was seen

in the responses of other teachers, as well. For example, MS. Dylan said:

“. . .sometimes I do have to give him that extra push to make him go, you know—further the
distance, you know. . .Usually, if I just tell him, or I stand over him and tell him, you know,
like, ‘ok, you know, let’s get moving,’ (snapped her ﬁngers), you know, he’ll kinda pep up
and, you know, go ahead and get the work done (laughed).”

MS. Dylan perceived that Daniel sometimes had trouble challenging himself to work
beyond minimum expectations. However, he seemed to respond well to the extra
encouragement She gave him. He did Show an appreciation for being challenged when
playing a math game during one of the observations: Ms. Dylan thought out loud to
herself whether or not She wanted to give him, and the student with whom he was
competing, a regular question or a challenging one. He immediately asked her to give

them the more challenging question. Once MS. Dylan asked the question, he thought

50

about, gave a few wrong answers, kept trying, and soon answered it correctly before the
other student. While Ms. Dylan was concerned with her student not challenging himself
enough at times, MS. London was concerned with her student taking on more of
challenge than he could handle. When asked about the type conﬂicts she experienced

with David, She replied:

“Um, minor. Maybe if we’re doing a whole-group lesson or discussion, and he goes one step
further and maybe someone hasn’t gotten up to step one and he’s already at step two, I have
to remind him to slow down, and if he does go, don’t distract or confuse the other students.”

The level of conﬂict described in the last few scenarios was relatively minor and clearly
manageable. Amazingly, there was even one teacher who had no concerns in this regard.

When asked about conﬂicts She’d had with Keith, Ms. Poole responded:

“He hasn’t had one. Not to date; not that he might not. He only got in trouble one day, and
that’s ‘cause he didn’t wanna come off the playground. And he knew it, and he was like, ‘I
know I have to move my car.’ So, I didn’t have to say anything to him ‘cause he knew. That
was it, the only problem I’ve ever had.”

In this Situation, Keith was able to recognize his mistake and correct it on his own, thus
eliminating any conﬂict between him and his teacher. Ms. Poole seemed amazed herself
that Keith was so well-behaved and that their relationship seemed free from any notable
or memorable conﬂict. Her experience was, however, the exception not the rule.

In addition to the levels of closeness and conﬂict, and consistent with typical
adult-child relationships, the students’ level of dependency on their teachers was a
Signiﬁcant aspect of their relationships. For this project, dependency was considered in
terms of the extent to which teachers balanced providing their students with academic
and social support with setting them up to do things on their own. Ms. Stark felt that

independence was an important quality for her 5'h graders to develop and demonstrate

51

(see Table 2.2). However, she was concerned at that time that they were not independent
enough. She perceived her students, including Dana, as having difﬁculty working without
her constant monitoring or guidance. Ms. Stark described strategies She used to address

this concern:

“Well, like ‘See Three Before Me.’ Because, every time they’d run into a
problem, like when they were doing their work, they would immediately, like magnets,
come to me. And you know, at ﬁrst I was like ‘ok,’ I would help them. But now I’m like,
‘no, uh-uh, seek three before me.’ In other words, see three of the peer tutors or some
thing before you come to me. Use me a last resort, unless you go to all three and they’re
like ‘well, I don’t have a clue as to how to help you with this.’ Then come see me; but
don’t automatically just for everything: ‘Ms. S---, I don’t get it.’ ‘You don’t get what?
Have you tried? Have you seen three people before me?’ So that’s kinda working really
well. And then, I just encourage them on a day to day basis, ‘guys, try your best to do it
on your own before you ask for help.”’

Ms. Stark had adopted and introduced a routine to encourage students to at least attempt
to work things out on their own before they came to her for help. Her sense was that it

was working well. MS. Poole also uses this strategy with her Kindergarteners:

Um, I, on their work, I let—l make—I want—I tell them they need to try ﬁrst, before they
bring it to me or. . .and then they get to the point where I tell them, ‘ask 3 before me,’ so they
need to ask three other students before me because they can do it on their own, but sometimes
they just easily—they just—it’s a lot easier for them to come ask ‘cause they think somebody
is gonna come and give them the answer instead of doing it on their own. In our writing, for
example, like we start out the beginning of the year, they draw a picture, they tell me a story
and I just write it straight onto the paper. And then, now they tell me a story and I write it on
a sticky note, and they have to copy it...”
Ms. Poole identiﬁed ways that She helped her students to practice their existing Skills
independently, as well as ways that she helped them to develop emerging Skills. When
students were working on something that they already knew how to do, She used the “ask
3 before me” technique. When she required them to do something new, she used the
scaffolding technique, doing most of the task for them initially, but allowing them to do

more of the task themselves over time. MS. Poole also Shared her thoughts regarding

Keith’s demonstration of independence:

52

He does a lot—he helps a lot of other students. So, he knows what he’s doing and
he’s conﬁdent and independent enough to be able to help other students. And he
helps them where he doesn’tjust tell them the answer. So, I think that he feels
conﬁdent enough; he can give them hints and without coming to me and asking me
questions—Ms. Poole

Keith showed his independence through his ability to assist his peers with their academic
work. Ms. Poole even perceived him as having a rather sophisticated approach to giving
help. The apparent style and conﬁdence she described in him seemed to be an imitation
of her.

In terms of academic instruction, MS. Dylan was able to strike a balance between
providing support to students and allowing them to work independently using a structured
system:

“Oh, I tell them all the time. . .you know, there are certain activities and certain lessons
that, you know, if it’s the ﬁrst time we’re doing it, I’ll have a little star on the work plan and
they know that that means wait for teacher guidance, before they do that section of the work
plan. But, you know, like other things, they go on, on their own. If they complete those
assignments, then we go over the teacher-guided work, uh lesson, together.”

The work plans served as guide, or roadmap, for students to complete their work
independently; the stars allowed students to determine what they could do on their own
and on which tasks they would need help from their teacher. MS. Dylan went on to say
that her students took a lot of pride in their work plans. They worked hard to successfully
complete the assignments and gained a strong sense of accomplishment in doing so. In
contrast, Ms Mitchell adopted a somewhat hands-off and informal approach to cultivate
her students’ ability to work independently. When asked how She encourages
independence in her students, She replied:

“I think, for one, letting them work at their own pace and know my expectations, and me not
have to say, ‘hey,’ every ﬁve minutes, ‘do this, do that...’ And I feel like if they’re working
at their own pace, they have that independence that says, ‘hey, I need to do this, I need to get
through with this, I need to do that,’ instead of me hounding them saying, ‘if you don’t ﬁnish
this, you can’t go to PE,’ or, you know...And, um, also independence, I consider homework

53

to be a huge independence. 1 have a good homework rate and I get it turned back in correctly
and all that good stuff. . .And also reading. I’m trying to ﬁgure out something to do to get my
kids to like to read on their own, so that is something I want to teach them: how to want to
read things on their own instead of me having to say, ‘you do this, you get this many points,’
you know, so, it’s kinda hard to ﬁgure out that independent thing. They’re still so young!
(laugh)”
Interestingly, MS. Mitchell expressed that it was a Challenge for her to solidify her
approach to or beliefs about cultivating independence in her students. The implication
was that she believed her children were not ready to be too independent, which seemed
like more of a perspective one might expect of a Kindergarten teacher. This perception
was not consistent with the responses of the other 5th grade teachers. For example, Ms.

Lang was very passionate about encouraging independence in her students:

“That is one of the most important things that I teach as a 5'h grade teacher because up until
this year, they’re pretty much ‘Molly coddled.’ Not that that’s a bad thing. But when they
come to me, a big part of my job is to get them ready for the Middle School, where they are
not going to be ‘Molly coddled’ at all! So, independence is something that I do teach a lot of.
And it starts with just little things like, ‘I’m going to read the instructions to you one time,’
and after that it’s, ‘I’m going to give you this sheet of paper and you need to read the
instructions,’ just baby steps. But still, it’s letting go. And I think when you’re a parent, you
can really understand—it’s the same thing that I did with my own son. It’s just those little
increments of letting go. And then pretty soon, you know, they’re across the room...”

She goes on to say, later in the interview:

“I’ve always thought that a good parent puts themselves out of a job and I think pretty much
the same things go for the classroom.”

It was clear that Ms. Lang strongly valued teaching her students to be independent. She
saw it as an imperative asset for her students’ success in their future educational
endeavors. It was an integral aspect of how She deﬁned her success as a teacher, as well.
In addition, made references, in terms of encouraging her students’ independence,, to the
Similarities between teaching and parenting. That link was consistent with concepts

asserted by Attachment Theory.

54

Although many of the teachers conceptualized independence was the tendency of
their students to do things on their own, some teachers pointed out the independence
demonstrated when their students were able to recognize when they needed help and
appropriately solicit help from them. MS. Mitchell commented on Daniel:

“Um, he’ll be quick to say, ‘oh, I don’t get it,’ you know, ‘can you explain this to me? I don’t
understand.’... He’s got enough sense not to just sit there and pout, but to ask for help...”

This revealed an important part of developing independence. Daniel was able to monitor
his own progress and advocate for himself so that his needs were met. Rather than wait
for the teacher to realize he needed help and offer it to him, he initiated the interaction. In
the present study, this was a characteristic typically seen in the 5‘h graders as opposed to
the Kindergarteners. This pattern was most evident in how the teachers described their
approach to helping their students solve academic and social problems.

When asked to describe her approach to helping Dana solve personal or social
problems, MS. Stark replied.

“Well, I think we’ve experienced like a few personal problems. Like I said, she’s very
social and if something in that particular area goes wrong—you know, another student
said something, hurt her feelings or whatever, she’ll come and talk to me. We kind of just
Sit down and do a little bit of um you know that mentor program where you think of
ways—peer conﬂict (she couldn ’t think of the exact word/phrase, so I prompted, “like
conﬂict resolution? ") Yeah. We do a little bit of that, with role playing and everything,
because, like I said, her feelings get hurt real easily. And I think that comes from being an
only child. And so when She says, ‘Somebody’s mad at me,’ I’ve had a few of those
issues with her, and we see if we can resolve the conﬂict, involving a particular student or
students. Basically, that’s the only social problem...”

MS Stark’s remarks suggested that when Dana had a problem, she sought the help She
needed rather than wait for her to initiate. Consistent with ideas posited by Attachment
Theory, Dana relied on MS. Stark to help her negotiate her social environment, in this
case to resolve conﬂicts with peers. She also demonstrated a certain level of

independence by realizing She had a problem, utilizing her resources appropriately, and

55

actively participating in the process to resolve the conﬂict. In contrast to some of the 5'h
grade teachers’ experiences, many of the Kindergarten teachers tended to take a more
proactive approach and often initiated contact to help their students when they saw the
students’ having trouble. For example, Ms. London talked about her problem-solving
experiences with David:

“Um, when something is wrong with him, I deﬁnitely know because he cries, he just cries.
I’ll ask him what happened and—what happened to make him upset, ‘cause he can take a lot.
But certain things that, you know, do bother him. And, you know, I just ask him, ‘what was
another way that you could have handled that?’ or, ‘how do you feel when that person did
you wrong and how could you solve the problem?’ basically, problem-solving. He controls
his anger and his emotions. I’ll go back and tell that person to apologize and, ‘you know what
you’re supposed to be doing; make sure you’re doing what you’re supposed to.’ And I tell
him to calm down and get a grip.”

Ms. London seemed to say that She typically took the initiative to diffuse problems when
she saw that David was struggling or was upset. AS a younger child, David was more
dependent on his teacher to come to his rescue, so to speak. Although he was generally
calm and in control of his emotions, he relied on Ms. London to recognize when things
got too overwhelming for him and to help him cope with the Situation. The fact that
David was generally composed and able to keep things from bothering him was,
however, an indication of emerging independence and self—regulation when dealing with
social/emotional conﬂicts.

The ﬁnal theme that emerged from the data to reﬂect concepts derived in
Attachment Theory was the connection between the parent-child relationship and the
teacher-student relationship. AS discussed in the review of the literature, previous studies
conducted around the teacher-student relationship asserted that the bonds between parents
and children could be used as framework to conceptualize and understand the nature of

teacher-student relationships. Although the relationships that children formed with their

56

teachers were not considered to be nearly as emotional salient or inﬂuential as their
relationships with their parents, it was widely accepted that the former relationship held
many Similar characteristics to the latter, possessing some degree of emotional
meaningfulness and impact on children’s experiences, particularly in school.

In the present study, there were consistencies regarding the teachers’ perceptions
of their own interactions with students and those they observed between the students and
their parents. MS. Mitchell acknowledged that her observations of Daniel and his mom
were limited, but she had still formed an impression of the little she had seen:

“Um, I really haven’t seen them like interact-interact. When I do see ‘em, he does have
respect for her. He does mind her, like if she says, ‘here, hold the baby,’ or you know, I don’t
know, you can tell there’s a respect factor there, evidently, because he has such respect here
at school. And then, at parent night, he walked, you know, he was proud, proud to Show his
power point, you know. He was proud to show his work to his mom, to let her know what
he’s been doing...”

Ms. Mitchell seemed to recognize Daniel’s respect for his mother as the foundation for
the respect with which he interacted with others at school. In other words, She believed
that the positive relationship She described throughout the interview between her and
Daniel was informed by the base relationship he had with his mother. This parental
foundation was also reﬂected in some of the responses of the Kindergarten teachers. For

instance, Ms. London said:

Um, he fears mom and dad, so there’s structure there and there’s discipline, and there’s some
good things going on there. Um, he respects his mom, he respects authority. He, um, he has a
good self-image, which I think comes from the home inﬂuence, the parents. Um, he’s a good
kid. -MS. London

Ms. London suggested that David developed a sense of respect and positive self-image
through the guidance of his parents, and that she saw those qualities in him at school.

These were attributes that made it possible for her to cultivate a positive relationship with

57

him. Ms. London also made an intriguing observation that She felt David feared his
parents, which She considered to be a positive thing. Her perception reﬂected a value
widely accepted in the African-American culture that one Should have a “healthy dose”
of fear (often equated to respect) of one’s parents. This was likely something that She
valued in her own relationship with David. This fear/respect, much like performance
anxiety, was intended to motivate him to behave appropriately or according to the
expectations set forth by his parents and his teacher.

The teachers’ perceptions of their relationships with students also mirrored
parenting constructs from Attachment Theory in the extent to which teachers associated

their relationship with students with a parenting relationship. Ms. London went on to say:

“I see [David] as a son. I mean, he knows I’m not his mom, but he knows I would do
whatever... I could to help him.”

And MS. Lang said:

“I’ve always thought that a good parent puts themselves out of a job and I think pretty much
the same things go for the classroom. I think a good teacher, by way of modeling, and all of
the things that I have mentioned in this interview, by the end of the year, you pretty much put
yourself out of a job and it’s time for those children to move on.”

She and other teachers, at both grade levels, identiﬁed being a teacher with being a
mother ﬁgure to their students. Similar to the parent-child bond, here was an implied
emotional connection and a strong personal investment in the student’s well-being, albeit
to a lesser degree. It was interesting to Ieam that teachers felt at both grade levels oﬁen
felt a “maternal” bond to students. Previous research had focused more on children’s
tendency to perceive their teachers as similar to parental ﬁgures, particularly younger

children.

58

Table 2.2

Teachers’ Perceptions of Relationship Quality:
Links to Constructs from Attachment Theory

 

 

 

 

CLOSENESS CONFLICT
Kindergarten
Teachers On a scale from MD, his trust in me is Well, basically, the only one is that he and
about an 8. He tells me stuff that happens this other student, when they get together,
at home and not all students will Share they misbehave and he starts acting like
that. He’s really open and he’ll talk your the other student, which is not the right
ear off if you let himl—Ms. Poole way to be. And so I have to separate them
and remind K that, you know, this is a
“I guess, the fact that he feels place ofleaming, ‘you know how to ‘10
comfortable, so he is not—if he’s like this K because you’ve been doing It, and
struggling with something, he now you’re following this other guy’s
comfortable enough to come ask me a direction and it’s the wrong direction! So,
question instead of being scared that I’m ICI’S get back 0“ "’30" here. DO what you
gonna criticize him or not want to help know Is right.’ That’s how I h')’ to handle
him. He knows that he can come up and It- I try to separate him from the person hat
I’ll help him to better understand things, he’s having the misbehaving problem With
and then fee]__you know—be more and remind him that he knows the way to
successful.” —MS. Poole behave and the best way for him to Ieam
and it usually works. That’s all I usually
have to do, just separate and remind.
--Ms. Mason
5‘“ Grade He trusts me completely, as a conﬁdant. DC loves to talk, and um, that has been the
Teachers And I trust him, as much as I would any one and only thing... she likes to be

 

10 year-old, to do the right thing and do
what I model for them to do.—Ms. Lang

 

‘social’ (said in a teasing voice). And so
She talks, talks, talks. And that has
probably been our number one conﬂict and
like I said, I’ve called on the parent and
conferenced and talked and, you know a
lot of times DC has been upset and there’s
been tears. And, I’m trying to get her to
see that, you know, DC is a fairly bright
child and can talk to other people and still
get it, [but] there’s other students in the
classroom that can’t. So, while She’s
talking to them or talking to someone else,
it’s a distraction and keeping other
students from Ieaming. That’s my number
one conﬂict. I told her that that won’t be
tolerated. When you’re keeping other
students from Ieaming, that’s where I draw
the line. We’ve had a few bouts with that.
We’re working on it.—-MS Stark

 

59

 

Table 2.2, continued

 

 

 

 

DEPENDENCY PARENTAL FOUNDATION
Kindergarten Well they have what we call independent Um, I would say it’s pretty positive. It
Teachers work, as independent as it can be. Um, at seems to be relatively nurturing. There
which time I let them know, ‘do the best seems to be clear roles as far as this is the
you can do. Do what you can do. Try to parent and she’s the child. There doesn’t
ﬁgure it out, and then come to me. I’ll seem to be confusion in that aspect of it. It
help you.’ Um, also, encourage them to seems to be pretty positive, they seem to
go to another peer that may be able to interact—at least in my presence that I’ve
help assist them as much as possible, observed, and it’s been consistent—it’s
before you come to me. I mean and that’s been positive interactions, very good
not in all cases, but with certain things, interactions, clear cut roles as far as how
especially with things that we’ve gone they interact with each other. Mom seems
over, and gone over, and gone over, I feel to be—‘cause that’s the one I see more is
conﬁdent in them being able to do it mom, rather than dad—mom tends to be
relatively easily and relatively simply. more understanding as to what’s going on
Um, I let them know what I expect. ‘this and doesn’t just come at the rigid, stem
is what I expect--you to get to at least this approach with hen—Ms. Richards
point, and then we’re gonna work
together.’ So, I do it that way.——Ms.
Richards
Like in the mornings, I don’t have to tell
them, ‘ok, y’all go the computers...
so, that’s independent for them to go to
the computers. You know, they know
what comes next. Um, when they ﬁnish,
they put their folders in their cubbies.
They’re pretty independent, they know
the routine—Ms. London
5th Grade You know, at the beginning of the year, it Um, I really haven’t seen them like
Teachers seemed like they wanted me to do—this interact-interact. When I do see ‘em, he

 

particular class this year, they’re very
dependent. And I’m trying to teach them,
‘you know, you’ve gotta do some stuff on
your own. Every class is different. It
seems like every year every class is
different. But this particular class, it
seems like they’ve been coddled a lot,
and in 5“I grade, you kinda have to be
weaned away from that because you’re
going to middle school. So, we’ve been
kinda working on that slowly.
Increasingly kinda, ‘guys, do this on your
own,’ not only with DC, but the entire
class—Ms. Stark

 

does have respect for her. He does mind
her, like if she says, ‘here, hold the baby,’
or you know, I don’t know, you can tell
there’s a respect factor there, evidently,
because he has such respect here at school.
And then, at parent night, he walked, you
know, he was proud, proud to Show his
power point, you know. He was proud to
show his work to his mom, to let her know
what he’s been doing, so...--Ms. Mitchell

 

60

 

What strategies do teachers employ to build positive relationships with students?
And, to what do teachers attribute positive (warm, caring) relationships with

students?

Teacher Strategies to Build Positive Relationships with Students

Over the series of interviews and observations, emerged speciﬁc strategies that
the teachers used to cultivate positive relationships with their students, as well as Speciﬁc
attributes identiﬁed by teachers as responsible for those positive relationships. The major
themes reﬂected in the teachers’ relationship building strategies were: I) displays of
teacher approval and support pertaining to students’ Ieaming and behavior; 2) recognition
of students’ individual and cultural strengths; and 3) establishment of care and trust
between teachers and students. Although teachers were able to describe their own efforts
to build and maintain positive relationship with their students, they typically attributed
the quality of those relationships to personal characteristics of their students.

The most common approach teachers took to build good relationships with their
students was offering them many signs of approval such as praise and rewards pertaining
to academic performance and behavior. MS. Mason was asked what strategies She used to
build a positive relationship with Kevin, and She replied:

“Well, I just see the good things in him and compliment him, and Spend one-on-one time with
him as much as I can.”

MS. Mason emphasized the value of recognizing Kevin’s efforts. There was a sense that it
was particularly motivating meaningful to him to be recognized by his teacher, a person
whose opinion he values highly, and that this recognition would strengthen the alliance

between student and teacher. She also talked about spending time with him individually,

61

which likely communicated to him that he was important to her, and also served to
strengthen their relationship.

Other teachers gave similar responses having to do with displays of approval and
positive relationships with students. Ms. Richards spoke in detail about praising and
recognizing Deanna’s efforts in the classroom (see Table 3). Similar to MS. Mason, MS.
Richards seemed to realize the importance of letting her student know that She was doing
well. MS. Mason was observed smiling often saying things such as “good job,”
“excellent,” and “very good” in an enthusiastic voice when responding to Deanna and
other students as they participated in a reading lesson. These types of exchanges she
Shared with Deanna reinforced the positive relationship between them. She also
recognized herself as an important person in Deanna’s life, a person whose opinion
Deanna valued. She even Spoke of involving Deanna’s mother, so that Deanna was then
able to associate approval from her teacher with approval from her parent, both of which
were likely to be meaningful to her. Again, each of MS. Richards’ efforts to communicate
her approval to Deanna strengthen the positive feelings between them: Deanna was, most
likely, happy to receive praised from MS. Richards, and MS. Richards, most likely, felt
good about eliciting feelings of pride and accomplishment from Deanna.

Consistent with the perceptions of MS. Mason and Ms. Richards, MS. London and
MS. Poole also made efforts to emphasize praise and recognition of their Kindergarteners.
When asked ways in which they support their student’s Ieaming and behavior, they

responded:

“Um, just encouragement. . . [and] a lot of praise, lots of praise—academic success and
behavior. Um, treats, 5 minutes extra on the computer, or 5 minutes free time, or he can read
a book he likes—they think that’s a prize, to be able to read it to the class. A book they know,
Brown Bear Brown Bear, they’re not actually reading it but they think they are. I think it’s

62

because they’ve memorized it. And that’s—everybody wants to do that. Or just be my little
helper. Just, um, just positive reinforcement and making sure that I let them know that I am
proud of their good choices, and explaining to them, ‘It does pay off in here as well as
outside the classroom.’” —Ms. London

“With encouragement and praise...when you see [Keith] doing a good job or when you see
him trying hard, you tell him or you tell the whole class. We do writing and I’ll pull out 5 or
six papers that were good that day and I’ll Show ‘em why they were good. And then, all the
other kids, the next day, wanna live up to the expectations you set forth the day before, ‘well,
they got their paper Shown, so I want my paper Shown.”’—-Ms. Poole

These teachers have found a variety of creative ways to communicate to their students
that they are proud of their efforts, with regard to academics and behavior. When teachers
give such recognition and students feel appreciated by their teacher, positive relationships
between them can be easily maintained.

Ms. Lang also discussed the importance of praising her 5th grade students’ efforts
in the classroom (see Table 3). During the observations, there were several occasions
when she recognized students for doing well. For example, She sat at her desk as students
were ﬁnishing up a worksheet. AS each student went up to her to turn his/her paper in,
she took time to look at the paper and give the student feedback on what they did well.
Her verbal and nonverbal interactions with each student communicated that she was
impressed with what he/She had done. There were also some students who made mistakes
on their papers, but she emphasized the good aspects of their work as well as pointing out
things they needed to correct or change. MS. Lang seemed very in tuned with her
students’ need for approval and, as a result, made noticeable efforts to fulﬁll that need for
Zavion and the rest of her students.

There were similar perceptions of praise and recognition of students described by

Ms. Dylan, regarding her 5th graders:

Like I said, I always, um, like you know try to do little incentives for may class for when they
complete assignments or when they, you know, exhibit certain behaviors, on Fridays—most

63

of the time it’s on Fridays. So, little stuff like that. Even little stamps on their paper, you
know, the smaller things sometimes are the things that mean the most to them because they
love a sticker or a stamp on their paperl—Ms. Dylan

As other teacher expressed, MS. Dylan perceived her students as placing a lot of
Signiﬁcance on being recognized for their efforts, and Specially being recognized by her.
While most teachers talked about praise and approval mostly in terms of student
successes, MS Mitchell shared her insight into communicating her approval of Daniel

even when he made mistakes. She described the support she gave him in her classroom:

“Um... just letting him know that I am there for him if he needs something. You know, if he’s
not understanding something, don’t be afraid to say, ‘I don’t understand.’ Just letting him
know that, ‘hey, I’m here for you,’ and nobody is perfect, you know, regardless of how smart
you think you are, you know. ..He made the comment to me the other day—we did a novel
study and he was like, ‘I don’t forget. . .I don’t forget anything.’ And so, the next day, I called
him on it. I said, ‘I thought you said you don’t forget anything?’ He said, ‘well I wasn’t
talking about all the time,’ you know! It’s like uh-huh, ok! But you know, he just has to
realize just because you don’t make, you know 2 I 0% on every test, that you know, it’s ok.
And I think he’s cool with that too, though. —Ms. Mitchell

Ms. Mitchell seemed to be equally impressed with Daniel’s abilities and potential,
whether or not he made some mistakes and to effectively communicate that to Daniel. It
was important for him to know, particularly as a person who did not like to disappoint
others (see Table I), that his teacher approved of him and accepted him unconditionally.
MS. Mitchell’s ability to communicate this to Daniel strengthened the positive alliance
between them.

The efforts of teachers to establish positive relationships with their students were
also demonstrated through their acknowledgement of the individual and cultural
perspectives that student brought into their classrooms. This was another way in which
students felt like valued members of their classrooms. Ms. London was asked about what
she does to integrate her students’ culture and individuality into her classroom. Her

response suggested that she felt it was important to make lessons relevant to students’

64

personal experiences (see Table 3). By doing that, the students’ cultures were also
incorporated; their cultures likely informed those personal experiences.
MS. Richards also noted the Signiﬁcance of recognizing her students’ individual

and cultural strengths. She talked about how she accomplished this in her classroom:

“Well, for one, we emphasize that, although we point out our similarities, but also our
differences—what makes us unique, and that’s ok because that’s what makes you uniquely
you. Um, I try to express that to them. As far as cultural/ethnic differences, we talk about that
to a certain extent, I mean the best I can get it understood, you know, on their level as much
as I can. Um, you know, and just emphasize that that’s what’s important, ‘this is what you
may do, and this is what this person may do, that’s how we all do it, that’s what we do about
things,’ and how if you may do things differently, like for example, the holidays coming up
and everybody does some of the basic things the same but, individually, we all do something
a little different and individually they get to tell me what’s unique about what they do and
why they do it and how they like it and all that kind of stuff...”

She attempted to teach students to take pride in their own unique qualities and to respect
those of others. She also encouraged them to recognize and value their cultural
differences and similarities. Those unique qualities and associations with culture were
likely to have had an inﬂuence on her students’ personal identity development. Therefore,
placing emphasis on these issues was likely to give her students a sense of value in that
setting and in her eyes, which, again, allowed MS. Richards to maintain a positive
relationship with Deanna and her other students. Also, it was not unusual for teachers to
incorporate students’ individual and cultural vales was by encouraging them to Share their
family traditions, as well as sharing their own traditions with their students. Ms. Lang
said:
“Well, for one thing, we have in our classroom—no matter what time of year it is; right now
we’re having, with Thanksgiving coming up, we might be having some discussions about
traditions, and family things that you do. Like for instance, your tradition would probably be
very different than mine. And that brings us—no matter where we start out—that always

brings us around to the cultural end of things. And they’re always very interested because I’m
100% Irish. They’re always very into, you know, do we have Irish stew for Thanksgiving or

65

do I cook a turkey? (laugh) and that’s how it starts. And then, of course, because he is
African-American, and whenever the opportunity presents itself—and of course, he’s not the
only African-American that I have in my classroom—but, whenever the opportunity presents
itself, I think it’s important to take those ‘teachable moments’ an just sit and talk with your
kids a little bit. And decide—not decide, but think about—what they do and how their
cultures and their whatever are different than yours, and how it’s great that we can all get
together and get along together, even though we are very, very different.”

Similarly, MS. Poole said:
“I think it’s interesting, Since I’m obviously of a different race, that some of the stuff that
they do at home, like different traditions—we were talking about Thanksgiving—you know,
like, everybody doesn’t eat turkey like we do, you know. And, I mean, you were talking
about African American students. Most of them have the same traditions as I do, but the
Hispanic students—the have enchiladas for Thanksgiving. So, we just talk about how
everybody’s different, but it’s all the same—how we’re all celebrating the same thing.”

These teachers showed interest in their students’ cultural backgrounds and encouraged
them to Ieam about each other’s. They also introduced students to their own cultural
traditions and pushed them to value the differences and Similarities among them. While
MS. Poole and Ms. Lang sought to create a cultural bridge between themselves and their
students that were target in this study, Ms. Dylan seemed to rely on the existing bridge

they shared through being of the same race. She said:

“Well, actually, um, all of my kids come from basically the same cultural and ethnic
backgrounds. You know, I may have quite a few--I mean—very few that come from a
different cultural or ethnic background. So you know, um, that’s one of the reasons why I
came to this school. I felt like I could be more of an inﬂuence here, or you know, more
helpful here because of the cultural and ethnic background at this school. And, um, and just
by me seeing them excel in the things that they do, you know, I guess, that’s how I value
what they bring to the classroom as well as what I can bring to them.”

Ms. Dylan seemed to use the common ethnicity she Shared with students as a tool to form
bonds with them and to encourage them to do well. In doing so, she seemed able to draw
on their individual and cultural strengths.

Along the same lines, Ms. Mitchell showed an appreciation for what Daniel

brought to her classroom:

66

I’m always using him as a role model. I’m like, ‘hey y’all, look at what D did,’ or you
know, I don’t rub it in their face, but ljust, I’m like, ‘y’all, y’all arejust as good as he is, too,’
you know. And, um, I do, I deﬁnitely use him as a role model. Urn, culturally, it’s kind of
across the board because they’re—most of them—everybody is African-American. Um, but,
just for them to see, ok well, everything’s not all about tennis shoes, clothes, music, cars, you
know. People see outside of that realm. He’s one of those people. Sometimes he gets a little
bit, into that too, but that’s ﬁne. Like I was telling him, I said, ‘if you’re into that type of
thing research it. See why,’ you know. And when I tell him to do that, the other kids want to
do it too. It’s just a—l use him as a model in my class, as the model student.”

Ms. Mitchell clearly valued Daniel’s presence in her room, as she described using him as
a model for the other students to follow. She seemed sensitive to the possibility that that
might have been alienating to other students and attempted to minimize that aspect. She
also talked about valuing students’ cultural strengths in terms of encouraging them to
expand their views beyond some of the stereotypes associated with being African-
American. She saw that ability in Daniel and seemed very impressed by that.

By placing value on students’ cultural and individual strengths, these teachers
were increasing their students’ sense of personal value in the classroom and made it
further possible for positive, warm relationships to be cultivated between teachers and
students.

Finally, some teachers mentioned the importance of establishing trust and rapport
when cultivating positive relationships with their students. MS. Stark suggested that
creating that sense of trust and rapport between her and Dana took time, time that She was
willing to put into their relationship (see Table 3). MS. Lang talked about establishing
trust with Zavion through honesty:

“For one thing, I’m honest with these kids. Honesty is very important. And, for him
especially, I try to have a sense of humor. Making him laugh goes a long way!”

Her approach to building a positive relationship with Zavion was to be completely honest

with him, and this honesty inevitably fostered or contributed to a sense of trust between

67

them. She also used humor to establish rapport with him, recognizing that this was an
effective way to communicate her support, particularly for him.

At the Kindergarten level, Ms. Poole was apparently able to use a more personal,
emotionally salient approach to stabling rapport and building positive relationships with
her students (see Table 3). This likely served to help her students cared for and close to

her.

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Table 3

Emergent Themes: Teacher Strategies to Build Positive Relationships with Students

 

TEACHER
APPROVAL

INDIVIDUAL AND
CULTURAL
STRENGTHS

TRUST AND
RAPPORT

 

Kindergarten
Teachers

“...I really try to be as
positive as possible [and]
give her a lot of
reinforcement, whether it
be something as simple as
smiling of an approval,
stickers, you know, um,
happy notes. I’ve made the
point of even calling home
and saying, you know, she
had a really great day
today. This is what she
did. Making, not
necessarily overboard big
deals of things, but the
littlest things so she knows
this is a goodjob, this is
what’s to be expected if
you put forth your best
effort. Even when there’s
special things that are not
necessarily school wide
recognition, but even in
my room and it’s not
necessarily because she
got everything right, it’s
because She tried to do it
and put forth her best
effort and paid attention
—MS. Richards

“...when I’m teaching
lessons and something new,
[I] try to integrate it with a
personal experience. And
just by them drawing on a
personal experience, I feel as
though they are integrating
their cultural background
within the classroom, you
know. Or... I tell them a
personal experience of
myself...”—Ms. London

Basically just through
positive reinforcement; I
hug them and tell them I
love them—MS. Poole

 

 

5'” Grade
Teachers

 

“. .. I write things on their
paper ldon’tjust

correct it, most of the time.

I write a little note that
says, ‘Gee, you’re doing
really well!,’ um, you
know, ‘you really knocked
this out!’ ‘Greatjob!,’
...when the kids come up
for conference... I tell
them... how well they’re
doing and how proud I am
of them... it’s what they
need and what they want
and it makes them want to
go back out there and, just,
do very well!” —Ms. Lang

 

I have to think about that
one. I don’t know ifthis is
answering it, but, you know I
teach the class that we’re
very diverse and that we
should respect that. We
should really become
knowledgeable of each
other’s cultures and respect
that—very important—Ms.
Stark

 

“I’ve just tried to
establish a sense of trust,
and that happens over
time. Yeah, I just try to
establish trust and rapport
with her.”—Ms. Stark

 

69

 

Teacher A ttributions Related to Positive Relationships with Students

Although teachers demonstrated efforts--in a variety of wayS--to establish positive
relationships with the students targeted in this study, they generally seemed to attribute
the quality of those relationships to characteristics of their students. Even though they
were not asked directly why they though they had positive relationships with their
students, many of their attributions could be inferred from their response patterns related
to other questions in the interviews. Teachers identiﬁed qualities such as an enjoyable
personality, overall goodness, a sense of humor, and honesty as factors and personal
strengths in their students that seemed to heavily contribute to the nature of their
relationships.

Ms. Mason Shared her perceptions of some of Kevin’s strengths:

“He has a really pleasant personality... And he gets along well with others. He has some
hitting issues, which it seems like boys this age do, but he’s a good kid...”

She described him as “a good kid” frequently throughout the interviews. The fact that She
perceived him in that way likely made it easier for her to pursue a positive relationship
with him. MS. Richards also perceived her student, Deanna, as good. She described her as

unusually responsible and honest for her age:

“Given her age, she’s fairly responsible for her age. She can be very trusted, meaning if I give
her responsibility, I pretty much can count on her getting it done. If there’s something that I
need to ask her about because I need a student opinion or something may have happen, I can
pretty much trust her to tell me the truth, even if she doesn’t particularly want to tell you the
truth. So, she’s honest. For the most part, she’s honest. She seems to be very responsible for
her age.”

Deanna’s demonstration of responsibility and honesty allowed MS. Richards to have a
more positive, trusting relationship with her. The fact that MS. Richards perceived those

qualities as somewhat advanced for her age, made her more likely to be impressed by

70

Deanna and to identify them as reasons for the quality their relationship. Ms. Lang

seemed impressed by Zavion’s sense of humor:

And, he’s also got a lot of the characteristics that I personally look for when I’m
befriending a new kid, if you will. He’s got a great sense of humor, and that’s one reason I
really like teaching 5'h grade, is because the sense of humor starts to come out now. And, um,
he also has got a great intuition and he’s sharp enough to know that—when we’ve had
enough of the playing, talking, sparring back and forth. Then it’s time to get to work, and he
understands that.”

Ms. Lang felt that Zavion’s sense of humor and social intuition contributed signiﬁcantly
to her ability to maintain a good relationship with him.

In sum, teachers were able to identify ways in which they worked to build
positive relationships with their students, as discussed in the previous section. However,
in terms of attributions regarding those positive relationships, they seemed to give more

credit to the characteristics, qualities, and behaviors of their students.

Teacher perceptions of student risk and resilience factors: implications for the
teacher-student relationship
Teacher Perceptions of Risk

The teachers were asked to share their perceptions of certain risk factors
commonly associated with poor school outcomes, speciﬁcally regarding the impact they
felt those factors had on the school functioning of their target students. In order to remain
consistent with the theoretical framework of the present study, the risk factors discussed
were racial discrimination and/or conﬂict and poverty. The teachers described their ideas

about whether or not these factors had an impact on their students’ school experiences.

71

While some teachers did not feel that there was any meaningful impact on their students,
others identiﬁed both positive and negative inﬂuences related to these factors.

When asked about the impact of poverty on Kevin’s schooling, MS. Mason
thought that that might have played a role in his lack of opportunity to attend school
before Kindergarten (see Table 4). She spoke of the embarrassment he had experienced
because of having not learned how to do things such as writing his name. However, her
perception appeared to be that he used such feelings as motivation; she went on to say
that even in the face of that situation, he was able to Ieam and perform to meet her
expectations and, in essence, make up for lost time. It was very common for teachers to
discuss the impact of these risk factors in terms of their students’ resilience to them,
rather than focusing on the negative outcomes associated with these elements of risk. Ms.
Dylan also described her student’s response to poverty as positive (see Table 4). She felt
that he was using his awareness of his current situation as a motivating factor to work
toward a better future for himself.

Other teachers’ opinions were that poverty did not have a very meaningful impact
on their student’s school experiences:

“. .. poverty is a state of mind. And [David] doesn’t have—that baby doesn’t have, um—he’s
well-loved at home, as well as school. He has structure and expectations at home as well as at
school. And he’s encouraged and he. ..Um, he is low-income and he does live in the projects,
but he doesn’t see it that way. He hasn’t experienced wealth or anything other than. ..He’s
always lived like that; he was born into that, so to him, that’s normal. And, his mom does all
She can. I mean, he has clothes, he’s well taken care of. They are poor, but you would have to
tell him that! He doesn’t even know, ‘I’m poor.’ And he doesn’t have the ‘poor me
syndrome’ where, ‘well, I’m poor, so I can’t.’ He doesn’t have that. So, he’s very afﬂuent
emotionally, mentally, physically. It hasn’t affected him in any way.”

MS. London suggested that the supports that were in place for David at home and at

school cancelled out any inﬂuence that poverty could have had on his schooling. She also

72

saw him as having an “afﬂuent” state of mind, which allowed him to normalize his
Situation and to take advantage of his support system.
Ms. Mitchell responded in a Similar fashion regarding the impact of poverty and

racial discrimination/conﬂict on Daniel’s school experience:

“Ok, I don’t want to say no [it does not have an impact], but I kinda do because, because of
the fact that he’s been at the same school Since Kindergarten. He’s had the same foundation
from day one. I mean, we’ve had the same principal, we have great structure. This is just an
awesome school to start at from Kindergarten and go all the way up through 5th grade. And
because of that, I wanna say no. He doesn’t have any problems. But then, I wanna say he
might, when he moves on to Sixth grade and he’s knocked into the real world, you know, of
being—having to be—in a culturally diverse—‘cause this is not culturally diverse, but I love
it because I think it’S a great experience and I mean—I don’t know—but anyway, so, it might
be an issue next year, you know. It’ll deﬁnitely probably be an issue next year. But, that’s
why I’m trying to expose him to different things now. ..And hopefully, hopefully he’ll use it
as a power instead of a hindrance. You know, some of our kids, they leave here and go to
Sunland and use it as a hindrance and go, ‘oh,’ you know, instead of saying, ‘I’m just as
smart as you, and I don’t have anything, any lower of expectations than you do.’ Instead of
saying it like that, I don’t know why—they take it and beat themselves down with it like, ‘oh,
it’s ‘cause of that White man, na na na,’ you know. They don’t twist it, you know. And I
think that D might be the ﬁrst to twist it, ‘I don’t care what you say, I’m ﬁxing to do this and
not get caught up in all that.’ I hope and pray, but...(laugh)”

Ms. Mitchell believed that the support and structure of the school environment buffered
or erased the impact of these risk factors on Daniel’s current school experience. She
seemed more concerned, however, that the negative inﬂuences of poverty and racial
discrimination/conﬂict would be more powerful when he reached middle school. Like
MS. Mason and MS. Dylan, she was optimistic that her student would use his awareness
of these factors as motivation to create a better Situation for himself.

MS. Richards identiﬁed her student’s lack of awareness as justiﬁcation for her
belief that racial discrimination did not have a meaningful impact on Deanna’s schooling
(see Table 4). She felt that Deanna’s developmental age did not allow her to understand
the concept. Therefore, even if it did exist, she could not be affected by something of

which She was unaware.

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Another Kindergarten teacher, Ms. Poole, felt that poverty and racial issues did
not in any way affect her Student’s school experience, in large part due to the support he
received from his family:

“I don’t think they have affected this particular student’s experience in any way. ..Because
he’s successful. I mean, he has the home su—even though, that, he’s of a different race, he’s
African-American and they’re of low income, he still has the support of his family and he’s
successful. So I think, because of his family setting, that overpowers all the other stuff that
could have a negative impact. I have seen it with, like, others—more poverty than
discrimination, but. ..Some parents feel like they don’t have—Since they don’t have enough
money, or they’re not well-educated, that they can’t help their kid at home, and that’s not
true. They can do more than they think.”

Again, this was an example consistent with many teachers’ perceptions that these risk
factors did not have any Signiﬁcant impact on students schooling due to strong support
systems at home and/or at school.

Some of the teacher’s responses reﬂected a desire to protect their students from these
risk factors, and, in doing so, minimize or eliminate any negative inﬂuences associated
with them. For example, when asked about her perceptions of the impact of the risk

factors on Zavion’s school outcomes, MS. Lang replied:

“I have read many things about that, about racial discrimination and conﬂict and poverty and
you know, low socio-economic conditions impacting education, and, you know, I’m just not
real sure—I would like to think in my classroom, that doesn’t happen. I don’t think that
because you come from a low-income family or you Skin happens to be a little bit darker or
lighter or different than mine, that should or would make difference as far as the kind of
education you get. However, I have lived for 53 years on this earth and I know that’s not
always the truth. I would like to think that—the only way that I can deal with that, this
particular topic, is in my own classroom. And I work overtime to see that that does not
happen here. It makes absolutely no difference to me how much money your people have or
if they have any at all, or what color you Skin is or what religion you are or any of that. I have
taught the very rich. I have taught the very poor. And I’ve taught them both the same way.”

She seemed very passionate about creating a Ieaming environment for Zavion and her
other students that ﬁltered out issues related to poverty and racial discrimination/conﬂict.

She acknowledged that her students might have been exposed to these factors in other

74

settings. However, She appeared confident that she could prevent them from having an

impact in her classroom.

75

Table 4

Emergent Themes: Teachers’ Perceptions of Student Risk Factors

 

 

RACIAL POVERTY
DISCRIMINATION/
CONFLICT

Kindergarten Teachers “... I’m sure there’s some impact “...maybe the poverty [has had

but I think given her age, it
hasn’t impacted her in any
meaningful way at this point, not
in any way that’s being
demonstrated in the classroom.»-
Ms. Richards

an impact on his education]
because he wasn’t in pre-K. You
know, maybe, I’m sure his—I
don’t know where he was, but he
wasn’t with his grandparents. So,
I’m not sure what was going on
last year. So that, kinda put him a
little bit behind, ‘cause most kids
go to Pre-K now. But, he’s
catching up, so I don’t see that
it’s going to be a factor for very
long. It just was at the very
beginning. And he wanted—he
did not like that he did not know,
you know how to write his name
or whatever. He did not like that
one bit. You could tell that he
was embarrassed that he had not
had that kind of instruction
before he came to
Kindergarten.”—MS. Mason

 

 

5th Grade Teachers

 

“. . .I think racial discrimination
came up and I kinda just squashed
it right away, and just went

on. ..Someone had made a
comment about—I remember
exactly what it was. There was a
comment made about—um—I
don’t know if it referred to me, or
because She’s Black or how it was,
but you know, we kinda just
nipped it in the bud, like no, no,
no, let’s squash that. But that’s the
only real incident I can think of
where racial discrimination came
up. I think this student was kinda
just using this as a crutch and just
kinda ﬂared up and said, you
know, ‘well, DC’S getting special
consideration,’ I’m paraphrasing,
‘because she’s Black and Ms. S---
is Black.’ So, quote/unquote Ms.
S--- doesn’t roll like that. So we
kinda just squashed it.”—Ms.
Stark

 

“You know, just by him saying
that he wants to succeed, he
wants to be the ﬁrst person to go
to college, you know, lets me
know that he’s aware, you know
of his situation. And he wants to
make sure that he, you know,
gets out of that situation and that,
you know, he wants to better
himself, you know, just do what
he has to do to succeed. But like I
said, you know, it let’s me know
that he’s self-aware, you know,
and he wants to do better.”—Ms.
Dylan

 

76

 

Teacher Perceptions of Resilience

AS revealed in the previous section, teachers tended to naturally Shift their focus
away from the negative impact of risk factors and more toward the circumstances that
promoted resilience among their students. They seemed to have every conﬁdence that
their students were doing well in school academically, socially, and behaviorally, and that
they would continue to do so despite the negative circumstances that may or may not
have had an inﬂuence on their lives. Teachers identiﬁed ways that they supported their
students’ success, as well as the roles that their parents played and the extent to which
students supported and motivated themselves.

Teachers attributed their students’ success most strongly to the students’ own

roles in that success. For example, Ms. Stark commented:

“Ok. This student iS successful, not so much because of me, but because, like I said in the
beginning, this student has set goals and is really adamant about reaching those goals.
She does not want to be a failure. She wants to be successful, and whatever it takes. And
she’s quite focused for her age, you know, with the exception of the yak yak yak, she’s
gonna be successful.”

MS. Stark felt that Dana’s ability to set her own goals and do what was necessary to
achieve those goals would allow her to maintain her success in school and take her as far
as She was willing to go. She seemed to think that Dana’s drive compensated for her
difﬁculties with talking, and would continue to do so in the future. MS. Lang held a
Similar impression of Zavion’s drive to achieve his goals (see Table 4.1). The fact that

She perceived him as being so driven suggested that she saw him as a student with a lot of
potential and the tools necessary to persevere despite adverse circumstances. Ms Dylan

added, about her student:

77

“Um, one of the primary reasons [he’s successful] is because of his own drive, you know, his
own determination; you know his own willingness to succeed.”

This drive to do well was also seen at the Kindergarten level. MS. Richards described
Deanna as having the will to succeed by participating in class (see Table 4.1). Ms.
Richards suggested that, for Deanna, the pay off was often the immediate approval or
rewards She received as a result of her participation.

Ms. Mason also perceived her Kindergartener as having the desire to be successful,

but included other characteristics as well:

“I think his attitude. He wants to be successful... He’s smart; he’s intelligent. He is, um a
nice-looking child, so that has something to do with it, whether you want it to or not. It does,
all of that does. He dresses nice and clean. Just, his whole attitude, his whole aura, is just-~it’s
a positive and that’s why he’ll be successful, because he is, he’s a positive child.”

MS. Mason noted that, in addition to having the desire and motivation to do well, Kevin
had the abilities necessary to make that desire a reality. She also alluded to the fact that
he was a good looking child, acknowledging that that played a role in how others
perceived his or potential in the Classroom. This touched on the comments Ms. London
made regarding her student’s grooming and appearance (see Table 4.1 ). It appeared that
the clean, appropriately dressed, attractive child was more likely to be perceived as
successful or as having the potential to be so. This may have been because the physical
appearance of students reﬂected the extent to which they were supported and cared for at
home, which was a vital aspect of the students’ success in school.

So far, the list of student characteristics included: motivation, ability, and physical
attractiveness. To that list, Ms. London added quality of character seen in David’s ability

to make good Choices:

78

“...he makes good choices, when the student—when I’m not looking, his mom’s not looking,
he just makes good choices, so he’s a good person all the way around.”

Her remarks suggested that she trusted his judgment and was conﬁdent in his ability to
use it, even when people were not watching him. She was him as developing a good
sense of morality or internalized values of right and wrong.

Teacher also identiﬁed the parents’ role in their students’ school success. As
discussed earlier, Ms. London spoke of the importance of the parentS’ role in getting
students physically ready for school each day (see Table 4.1). She had also shared her
thoughts earlier regarding the impact of poverty and race on David’s experiences. She
seemed to suggest that his parents played a major role in instilling that “afﬂuent”
mentality that promoted his resilience.

MS. Richards described Deanna as receiving lots of support, not only from her

mother but from her siblings, as well:

“I think her family as far as her siblings and her mom are encouraging to her in the
expectations that they have for her; and, her siblings being older, I think she wants to be like
them and there are certain aspects that, ‘they’re doing this, so I wanna do thiS,’ as far as like
academically, ‘they know how to do this, so look at what I can do,’ kind of thing (laugh).”

Support from her mother and from her siblings seemed to be quite meaningful for
Deanna. It was clear that MS. Richards perceived them as a vital part of her success in the
classroom. Parent and family support were noted by teachers at the 5‘h grade level, too.
MS. Dylan Spoke of Daniel’s family encouraging him to be involved in various activities

that promoted school success:
“You know, they support him. Like he’s involved in a lot of activities and programs, like
there’s a spelling bee—he’s involved. So, if there’s a TCU reading camp, he’s involved. And

they support him and make sure he gets to those activities, so their support just lets him know
that they care and want him to succeed as well.”

79

Daniel’s parents appeared to demonstrate their support of his education by allowing him
to participate in speciﬁc programs to increase his Ieaming opportunities, as well as
communicating that it was important to them that he did well. Ms. Stark also perceived
her student, Dana, as having a supportive parent, which had Signiﬁcantly contributed to
her success in school (see Table 4.1).

In addition to parent and student factors related to positive school outcomes for
these students, teachers modestly described ways in which their efforts had promoted
student resiliency. Ms. Mason portrayed herself as taking on a supportive or auxiliary
role in promoting Kevin’s school success (see Table 4.1). Her intentions seemed to
involve building on a foundation or set of abilities that he already possessed in order to
teach him the academic Skills he needed to Ieam. While MS. Mason’s perception of her
role focused primarily on academics, other teachers described themselves as providing
support to their students in more general terms, including academics, social interaction,
and personal well-being. MS. Dylan Shared her thoughts on how She fostered resiliency in

Daniel:

“Um, like, I’m there to support...and provide him with the knowledge, you know, that he’ll
need and offering my support, and just letting him know if he needs anything, you know,
anything within my realm, you know, I’ll help him with it.”

Her response suggested that she was willing to assist Daniel and encourage his success in
a range of areas. It seemed as though she made an attempt to be responsive to his
educational needs. All of the teachers seemed to have taken a personal interest in their
students’ well-being on some level, and for some of them, this was clearly reﬂected in the
way they perceived themselves as supporting their students. Ms. Mitchell, for example,

expressed great concern for Daniel’s future and was passionate about encouraging, or

80

even pushing, him to do well (see Table 4.1). The personal investments of Ms. Stark and
MS. Lang were shown by their description of themselves as role models and/or mentors
to their students:
“Well, I don’t like to think it’s so much me, but I try to, like I said, motivate her with
everything that she does. Not just academia, but socially, personally; just try to be there as a

role model and mentor. And, like I said, hopefully She’ll pattern the good things that She sees
in me and strive for that.” —-Ms. Stark

“Well, um, I hope that I hope that I have played a good role in the life of this child. I have
tried to, as I do with all my kids, I Show them the right thing to do by modeling good
behavior, by modeling the right thing to do, by allowing them to make their mistakes. . .”—
Ms. Lang

By deﬁning themselves as role models and mentors, these teachers were establishing
themselves as signiﬁcant ﬁgures in their students’ school experiences. They seemed
comfortable doing so and aware of the responsibilities associated with those roles. They
appeared very intent on being positive forces in their students’ lives by promoting their
academic, social, and personal growth.

Other teacher described their roles in terms of encouraging students to continue

along the road to success. Ms. London said:

“Um, I think I facilitate and nourish his positive thinking and his attitude, his desire to want
to do better and to Ieam. .. And I try, you know, just to encourage him to keep making good
choices and keep being a good person because that’s what’s gonna accelerate him to the top.
And not because he’s low-income, not because he went to a private school, or the worst
school in the district. It’s about him and not to make excuses, and to always put his best foot
forward and try hard and be honest and help others around him, and he’ll make it.”

MS. London was careful to, as other teachers have described, not to treat him any
differently based on his socio-economic status and did not consider that to a credible
barrier to success. She fully expected David to excel despite the risk factors associated
with low SES and encouraged him accordingly. Ms. Richards talked about how She

supported Deanna in her classroom:

81

..I guess looking at it from really trying to be as encouraging as I possibly can. Um, when
giving correction, to let her know, ‘this is a correction, but it is not a disapproval of you,’ that
it’s nothing personal, kind of thing. Urn, because sometimes you do encounter people, in our
opinion, may be quite harsh in the way that they deal with it. And, keep in mind that She is
only ﬁve, you know, she’s a baby, she’s a kid. Things affect them a lot deeper than they
would you. Things that she may get upset about or that She may cry about, although to me
seem completely crazy, I have to remember She’s a 5 year-old, and in a ﬁve year world, this a
major thing. So reminding myself of what 5 is.

--Ms. Richards

For Ms. Richards, the important thing was to be in tune with Deanna’s developmental
level or level of sensitivity, particularly regarding giving her corrective feedback. By
letting Deanna know that she was being corrected rather than criticized, Ms. Richards
likely made her feel less afraid to make mistakes, more conﬁdent to keep trying, and
unconditionally supported by her teacher. All of these outcomes contributed to the
resilience she experienced in school.

Ms. Poole and MS. Mitchell provided rather eloquent and succinct summaries of
the student, parent, and teacher-related factors that promoted the resilience of their

students:

“I think his home life. He has a good foundation. He knows he’s supported at school and at
home. And he feels comfortable enough to ask people at school or his parents fro help. I think
comfort allows a lot of things.”—Ms. Poole

“...One, stability because he’s been here Since Kindergarten so, stability. Two, because of or
expectations for him, because he’s been here for so long, we already know what he can do
and what he’s capable of doing and we’re not going to expect anything less. Three, just
because he’sjust an all-around good kid, and you know, you just hate to see somebody like
that not do what they’re supposed to do. So, of course we’re gonna ride him, so. And four, I
think he’s—he wouldn’t let hisself down. I don’t think he’s the type of person who would
say, ‘forget it. I just don’t care anymore’ you know. He’s not that type so.”—Ms. Mitchell

It was apparent that the students, their parents, and their teachers played signiﬁcant roles
in the students’ school experiences, which in many ways protected them from negative

risk factors and allowed for positive outcomes.

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Table 4.]
Emergent Themes: Teacher Perceptions of Resilience

 

 

 

 

 

tenacious. He’s like a pit
bull in fact... he gets a
hold of something and
he does not quit. And
that is such a wonderﬁtl
characteristic, 1 think,
because he just doesn’t
let go until he has
completed...That, in my
opinion, is one of his
strongest
characteristics... He’s
got a good attitude. He’s
tenacious and he sets
goals for himself... He
is living, breathing proof
that if you want it badly
enough, you can get it,
you can do it.” —MS.
Lang

 

quite a role. I don’t
know the situation of
where her dad is or
whatever, but being a
Single parent, her mom
has just really stepped
up to the plate and has
kept in contact with me
and different things and
She’s a pretty cool mom.
She really cares about
DC and vice versa; she
cares about her.” —MS.
Stark

 

STUDENT ROLES PARENT/ FAMILY TEACHER ROLES
ROLES
Kindergarten “Um, I think She initially “. . .his parents have “I just think I’ve kind of
Teachers has the drive, the will to played a very major just ﬁned tuned it a little
want to do it, to wanna— role. I think that starts bit; made him see the
whether it be She’s before they even set foot role that education
seeking approval, but she in this building because [plays]. . .he wasn’t
initially has her we’re not miracle going really on that path
own. . .where She workers. If there’s until he got to me,
initiates, ‘I wanna do problems at home, you ‘cause he didn’t go to
this, I want—if I do this, can camouﬂage, you can preschool... I think
then I get to do lie, you can try to cover what I’ve done is I’ve
this.’. . .”—Ms.Richards it up as much as you encouraged the Ieaming
want, but kids are gonna part, you know, the
tell the truth. Whether or education part of it. And
not they state it or not, the other part, he
you can see it in their already had. All that
eyes that something is together that just
wrong, if they’re makes a successful
hungry, if they’re not student; and if you got
taken care of, if their all that going for you,
hair isn’t combed, if so...I just have
they smell... [David] has encouraged that for him.
never been that Just help him see what
way...”—Ms. London he can do! Let him
know he can—he’s a
good learner and he can
do it!”——Ms. Mason
T57" Grade Teachers “He’s very—he’s “Her mom’s played “The role I’ve played.

Well...I’ve always, I’ve
stressed college...he
knows I have high
expectations for him. I
just try to make sure he
knows it’s for a reason.
It’s not just because I’m
trying to be mean. It’s
just because it’s, you
know, what I’m
supposed to do. It’s
because I really, really
do care a whole lot
about him so...”-Ms.
Mitchell

 

83

 

Implications for the Teacher-Student Relationship

Given the range of issues that could be associated with poverty, race, and
children’s schooling, it was expected that teachers would indicate that they experienced
cultural barriers when working with their students that likely had an impact on their
relationship. Some of those barriers seemed to challenge the relationships at times, but
the strength of the teachers’ efforts and the qualities they perceived in their students
seemed to consistently allow them to work through those challenges and maintain
positive, close relationships.

MS. Stark provided an example of a cultural barrier she was able to work through

with Dana:

“. . .on one occasion, I think I asked them to do something, and if I’m not mistaken, DC was
the one who was that said, ‘I can’t afford that right now.’ And I said, ‘ok, we’ll modify.’...l
think when she heard me say that, because I don’t know if She’s ever encountered other
teachers that have said, you know, ‘do the best you can’ or ‘well, you still gotta do the
project’ and never really said, ‘well, you know, let’s modify it some kind of way.’ So, I think
by me saying, ‘well that’s ok, I understand; been there, done that, so let’s modify the project,’
I think that let her know that, ‘oh, She’s real.’ You know, so that kinda helped her become
successful and that was just an isolated incident. —Ms. Stark

Ms. Stark appeared to be responsive and understanding toward Dana’s Situation and
worked with her to ﬁnd a solution without alienating her or making her feel bad. She
expressed that She was there to support her and could even personally identify with her
situation, having experienced it in the past. In this incident, Ms. Stark was able to
transform a cultural barrier into a positive experience from which the two of them could
become closer and develop a better understanding of each other. And, by handling the

Situation in the manner in which she described, MS. Stark added to the sense of trust

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between them that she discussed earlier as being an important part of maintaining a good
relationship with Dana.

One of the Kindergarten teachers, Ms. Richards, also described cultural barriers
she had experienced related to her student’s SES. Her challenges, however, were related
to her general ability to be open-minded and non-judgmental when it came to details She

had learned about Deanna’s home life:

.. some of the challenges, culturally, I’ve had to work through are truly trying to be a
little more understanding. You know, not to be—l mean we all say we don’t want to be
judgmental—but it’s easy to do (laugh). So trying to not to be quite as judgmental; trying
to be more understanding, as far as that aspect of it; to try to understand what’s going on,
what may bring about this thought process. ...speciﬁcally just, when you work with
small children, they tend to tell you pretty much everything. You know, they don’t really
realize that this is something that we don’t necessarily share, you know, the way we’d do
if it’s older people. So, she may share something with me, and I try to, you know, Shake
it off and say, ok That does doesn’t mean this goes on in the household all the time,
that type of thing. Or, um, particular days that I feel that She may have prepared herself
for school. You know, not trying to be judgmental or anything, but it makes no sense that
this child is this young and she’s the one responsible for waking up and getting together,
and that type of thing ....”

It seemed important for Ms. Richards to “curb” her judgments so that they did not
interfere with her expectations or perceptions related to Deanna’s performance in the
classroom. Such judgments could have also had an impact on her relationship with
Deanna. MS. Richards’ response to her could have been overly sympathetic, that could
have caused her to interact with Deanna differently. However, MS. Richards appeared to
be aware of her biases and making deliberate effort to suspend judgments that would
likely have a counter-productive inﬂuence on their relationship.

Finally, MS. Mason described an incident that seemed to represent a cultural barrier

between her and Kevin:

I have one little incident where he called—he said a word that no one would say or call a
Black person. But he called a Black person that word and I was surprised. I didn’t understand

85

since it had such a bad connotation, why he would call a friend that and in a friendly way. It
was like he wasn’t being mean about it. So I had to step back and look at that and kinda see
where that was coming from. But I still didn’t want him to say it and I had to just stop it.
Didn’t think it—itjust wasn’t the right thing to say at school. So, what ljust told him is, ‘you
know what, if your family doesn’t mind you saying these words,’ and it wasn’t a curse word,
‘you can say that at home, but you just can’t say it here at school. So, that—it’s the only
cultural—and I don’t know if that’s cultural. I’m not sure why that’s happening now. I mean
I’ve heard other people say it to people of their own culture, too, but I don’t know. Maybe
you don’t know what I’m talking about, but I was surprised. I had to stop it ‘cause I didn’t
like it...”—MS. Mason

Ms. Mason struggled to understand how this word could be used or interpreted in a
positive, friendly way. However, she simply explained to him that it was not a word that
was appropriate for school and required him to stop saying it without making him feel as
though he had done something terribly wrong. Again, she was able to rely on the existing
positive relationship with Kevin in order to work through this cultural barrier, and handle

it in such a way that maintained the integrity of their relationship.

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CHAPTER 4
Discussion

Implications of Pertinent Findings

This study explored teachers’ perceptions of their relationships with low-income
African-American students, with a particular focus on the impact they perceived their
relationships as having on the students’ school success. The interviews and observations
yielded insights into Kindergarten and 5th grade teachers’ beliefs and practices in regard
to the importance of building and maintaining positive relationships with this population
of students. Speciﬁcally, there are four especially powerful “take-home lessons” that I
gained from this study: I) These teachers did perceive their relationships as important to
their students’ school success, illustrating the apparent impact of caring adults taking
personal interests in their students’ lives; 2) Attachment Theory matched up well with the
teachers’ perceptions at both grade levels, identifying these teacher-student relationships
as Signiﬁcant, emotionally-salient dyads; 3) These teachers attributed the positive
relationships with their students primarily to the students’ characteristics, suggesting that
they paid less attention to their own roles and responsibilities in cultivating those
relationships; and 4) There was much more emphasis, placed by the teachers, on these
students’ levels of resilience than their levels of risk, indicating that the teachers’
conﬁdence in their students was not compromised by the students’ socio-economic status.
Positive Teacher-Student Relationships and School Success

My primary interest was to determine whether teachers believed that their
relationships with students from low-income African-American families were signiﬁcant

contributors to those students’ success in school. With the exception of one teacher, there

87

was agreement that the relationship was an important factor related to students’ school
success. Several themes emerged to describe the manner in which teachers perceived
their relationships as having an inﬂuence on their students’ achievements in school.

Many of the Kindergarten and 5th grade teachers identiﬁed themselves as role
models and/or mentors to their students. They talked about modeling appropriate
behaviors for their students and taking personal interests in offering them guidance
toward their achievements. Some of the teachers also seemed to feel that their students
looked up to them as adults setting good examples for the students to follow. Those
teachers tended to that their roles as role models/mentors very seriously. For example,
one teacher pointed out that she was likely to be a more powerful and important role
model to her student because of her proximity to her student and the relationship that they
Shared. I found this to be a particularly valuable insight because this teacher recognized
the potential she had to shape many of the ideas and beliefs developing in her students
and she seemed to take that seriously.

Some teachers also identiﬁed their students’ desire to please them as an aspect of
their relationships that fostered student achievement. Teachers at both grade levels
perceived their students as valuing their opinion and their approval. Those students were
often motivated to perform at their potential, behaviorally and academically, in order to
be recognized by their teachers and make them proud.

Another theme that emerged in regarding the link between the teacher-student
relationship and the student’s school success was the extent to which students felt
accepted by and comfortable around their teachers. In other words, some teachers

emphasized that it was important for their students to feel emotionally safe with them in

88

their classrooms. They thought that if students felt nurtured, cared for, and as though they
could make mistakes or seek help without fear of being criticized, then they would
perform better in class. A positive relationship with their teachers allowed Students to feel
accepted unconditionally, which likely lessened or mediated their performance anxiety
and helped them to achieve.

One of the Kindergarten teachers felt that her relationship with her student was
extremely important relative to his school success, particularly because She was his ﬁrst
teacher and would set the tone, or foundation, for his relationships with future teachers.
Not only that, but she felt that their relationship would likely be the foundation for her
student’s opinion of school in general that he would carry with him throughout the rest of
his school experience! This teacher’s passion for the relationship between her and her
student stood out from the other teachers, but was understandable considering Pianta’s
(I999) assertions. Recall that his ﬁndings suggested this kind of relationship provided a
foundation for students to use their representational capacity to access environmental
resources, as well as to regulate their emotions. In other words, such adult-child
relationships taught children how to interact with others in a socially appropriate manner.
Although this teacher would probably not disagree with many of the other themes that
emerged from teachers’ responses, She focused on her belief that the relationship between
her and her student had a strong inﬂuence on how he formed his perceptions of school in
general, as well as his motivation to align himself with and perform well in school.

Teachers also gave general descriptions of themselves as sources of support and
encouragement pertaining to their students’ school success, particularly at the 5th grade

level. These teachers tended to see themselves as having a somewhat less signiﬁcant role

89

in their students’ success and to give the students ownership over their own
achievements. They supported their students by communicating their expectations
clearly, guiding them through their academic work, praising their efforts, monitoring their
social interactions, etc. However, they appeared to respond to students when they sought
out their help, rather than initiating those interactions.

One of the teachers, at the Kindergarten level, did not perceive the relationship
between her and her student as a signiﬁcant contributor to that students school success.
She believed that there was nothing unique about their relationship, that this student
would be just as successful with another teacher. She did not make a connection between
her efforts to establish a positive relationship and the students’ performance in school,
even though She did talk about these issues separately throughout the interviews. It would
have been interesting to know what her perceptions might have been if She was asked to
consider, hypothetically, how her student’s performance might look different if she had
not made efforts to establish a positive relationship with her.

Overall, the teachers’ perceptions were consistent with ﬁndings from previous
research, discussed in Chapter I, asserting that teacher-student relationships were
associated with students’ positive school outcomes at both early and late elementary
grade levels (Pianta, 1994; Murray & Greenberg, 2000). The teachers in this study agreed
that it was important that their students felt valued, cared for, recognized, and supported
by them, in order for those students to perform at their optimal potential academically
and socially. While many previous studies established quantitative correlations between
general characteristics of teacher-student relationships and students’ school outcomes, the

present study provided a more detailed, in-depth exploration of some speciﬁc

90

mechanisms through which these relationships might inﬂuence the educational success of
low-income African American students.
Attachment Theory as a Framework for these T eacher-Student Relationships

The nature of the relationships between the teachers and students in this study, as
seen through the teachers’ eyes, seemed to be conceptualized adequately using theoretical
constructs derived from Attachment Theory. Teachers at both grade levels were able to
provide very thoughtful, detailed accounts of their interactions with students, which
captured elements of Closeness, Conﬂict, and Dependency (Pianta, 1994). By framing
these constructs within a Developmental Systems Perspective, the investigation became
relevant to the dynamic social interactions unique to each age group (Pianta, I999). The
level of closeness teachers felt with their students was largely reﬂected in their general
perceptions of those relationships. Factors such as trust, communication, humor, and
emotional connectedness contributed to the closeness present between them. As expected,
teachers also talked about varying degrees of conﬂict in their relationships with students.
Most of the teachers described those conﬂicts as minor and easily resolved. Even when
the conﬂicts seemed more signiﬁcant, the teachers expressed conﬁdence that the Situation
had been resolved or was under control. It seemed to me that the interactions the teachers
described may have been more challenging for them than they described. Although they
were ultimately successful in resolving most of their conﬂicts, the journey may not have
been without feelings of frustration and/or helplessness. It was probably easier for
teachers to talk about their positive experiences than discuss their negative reactions to

challenging situations.

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The teachers also described ways that they encouraged their students to be
independent. This was a quality that teachers at both grade levels seemed to value.
Kindergarten and 5th grade teachers also, in general, perceived their students as
demonstrating age-appropriate independence, relative to the expectations at their
respective grade levels. Surprisingly, it was two of the 5th grade teachers who expressed
some challenges related to their students’ independence. One felt that her students were
not independent enough, while the other struggled to deﬁne her expectations regarding
her students’ independence. The teachers generally described their target students as
adequately independent and/or leaders among their peers, which was in line with
previous studies that found a connection between independence and academic
achievement (Birch & Ladd, 1997).

According to constructs from attachment theory, the teacher-student
relationship is best understood by using the parent-child relationship as a starting point
(Howes & Hamilton, 1992). Therefore, connections were made between these two
relationships, using perceptions of the teachers, in this study. Many teachers related their
students’ interactions with, or respect for, their parents to the students’ behavior and
ability to get along with others at school. Some teachers also saw themselves as “parent-
like” ﬁgures in their students’ lives. Earlier, it was mentioned that a Kindergarten teacher
described her relationship with her student as the foundation for the students’ future
school experiences. This implied that, just as the parent-child relationship had a
signiﬁcant impact on subsequent teacher-student relationships, early teacher-child
relationships may Signiﬁcantly inform future relationships those children form with

teachers.

92

Many teachers talked about humor as a deﬁning feature of their relationships with
students. They were able to use humor as a way of connecting with the students. This
ability to share laughter was an important part of these attachment-like relationships,
representing familiarity, comfort, and a generally positive affect. In the interviews,
teachers reported that they regularly joked with their students and were often seen doing
so during the observations. Some teachers were also notably impressed with their
students’ abilities to engage in humor with them; one teacher talked about her
Kindergartener being able to understand humor that most of her other students couldn’t,
while another teacher Spoke very highly of the developing sense of humor of her 5th grade
student.

Teachers at both grade levels also identiﬁed trust and honesty as a Si gniﬁcant
aspect of their attachment-like relationships with students. Speciﬁcally, they talked about
being honest with students and expecting the same in return. The honesty between them
then cultivated a sense of trust, and that trust strengthened their relationships. In addition
to being honest and trustworthy in their relationships, teachers often said that they
experienced open communication with their students. In other words, they were able to
talk regularly to their students about a wide range of topics, whether they were school-
related or more personal or social in nature.

Interestingly, a popular word used by many of teachers to describe their
relationships with students was “appropriate.” This suggested that teachers were very
aware of the boundaries and professional nature of their positions as educators, a
profession in which they were likely to have been scrutinized or highly trained on

“appropriate vs. inappropriate” interactions with students. Teachers also described their

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afﬁliations with students as a “teacher—student” relationship, which seemed to imply
similar ideas. Teachers at both grade levels portrayed their relationships with students in
this manner. However, most that did were among those in this study with less teaching
experience. This suggested that the “appropriateness” associated with the teacher-student
relationship may have been, in general, more of a concern for the newer teachers than the
veteran teachers. This may have also been an indicator that training on ethical and legal
issues were “fresher” on the minds and had a stronger inﬂuence on the practice of newer
teachers. This idea of boundaries was a very powerful one; teachers Should be close to
their students, but not too close. Boundaries are present in every relationship, attachment
or otherwise. The boundaries unique to these relationships guided the teachers’
interactions with their students. Even those teachers who were not as concerned with
appropriateness seemed aware of basic boundaries in their relationships with students.
Providing the most support for the notion that the relationships between these
teachers and students were emotionally salient, all of the teachers indicated some degree
of emotional ties to their students. It was clear that they cared a great deal for their
students and perceived that their students cared for them, too. Howes & Hamilton (1992)
suggested that the teacher-student relationship mirrored the parent-child relationship, but
that the former was not as emotionally salient. Still, ﬁndings from their study and the
present study established the teacher-student relationship as emotionally Signiﬁcant in its
own right. During the interviews, teachers often smiled and Spoke of their students with
a sense of pride. They Simply seemed enamored with them and the level of success they
were able to achieve. The major difference between Kindergarten and 5th grade teachers

was with regard to their communication of this emotional connection to their students.

94

The Kindergarten teachers engaged in much more emotionally salient verbal and
nonverbal interactions with their students, such as frequent hugs and saying “I love you,”
which were usually in response to the students’ initiation. On the other hand, 5‘h grade
teachers tended to communicate their emotions through more indirect actions such as
being there for students as a source of help or support, or offering them encouragement or
praise related to their efforts and abilities.

As discussed in the previous chapter, it was not surprising to see such differences
between Kindergarten and 5th grade, considering the emotional maturity levels of the
students at the respective ages. Recall that Saft and Pianta (I994) posited that the
expectations for children’s social interactions change over time. It is reasonable, then, for
teachers at each grade level to have differing perceptions of and approaches to their
relational patterns with students.

Teacher Attributions: Recognizing their Students not Themselves

Although teachers identiﬁed strategies they applied to building positive
relationships with their students, they tended to downplay their role or responsibility
related to the quality of those relationships. Rather, they appeared to give more credit to
the students’ characteristics. They consistently described their students as having pleasant
personalities, easy to get along with, and all-around “good kids.” They perceived these
students as coming into the relationship already having the Skill set necessary to
appropriately engage or be a part of a positive alliance with their teachers. This begged
the question of whether or not teachers would have identiﬁed other students as not having
Similar characteristics and therefore perceive those students as being unable to engage in

positive relationships with them. Such a focus on student characteristics was also found

95

in the Birch & Ladd (1997) study. They described many teachers’ tendencies to form
more positive alliances with girls because they perceived girls as easier to get along with
than boys. By placing so much emphasis on the students, the teachers relieved themselves
of the responsibility of putting effort into maintaining those relationships.

There was a range of relationship-building strategies that the teachers identiﬁed in
their practices. All of the teachers talked about ways in which they recognized their
students for their academic achievements and their classroom behavior. Teachers were
often seen smiling at their students and were occasionally observed expressing how proud
they were of them. This was likely to cause students to feel valued and “liked” by their
teachers. One teacher’s comments suggested that She made an effort to Show her approval
to her student even when he made mistakes, reﬂecting an unconditional level of
acceptance. Once the teacher showed conﬁdence in his abilities and potential through
good times and bad, he was likely to internalize that conﬁdence for himself.

Another way in which teachers built positive relationships with students was by
Showing interest in their individual and cultural backgrounds. Some teachers encouraged
their students to Share their family traditions and to Ieam about those of others in the
class. One teacher prompted her students to draw on their personal experiences when
learning new things, and another teacher Spoke of frequently using her student as a model
for others to follow. By emphasizing cultural and individual strengths, teachers plausibly
made their students feel like valued members of their classrooms, as well as closer to and
supported by them, which was identiﬁed as an essential part of establishing a connection
to school among this population of students (Gay, 2000). A few teachers noted the

importance of establishing rapport and a sense of trust with students in regard to fostering

96

a positive relationship. These teachers expressed that they typically used humor and
honesty to achieve that goal. Many of these ideas, or strategies, shared by teachers were
in line with Pianta’s (1999) suggestions on ways to foster positive relationships with
students, Showing that the ﬁndings from the present study were likely Similar to the
experiences of other teachers and students.

My concern, however, was that the teachers rarely made an explicit connection
between their efforts and the quality of their relationships with students. Despite all that
they did, they appeared to be convinced that the success in their relationships Should be
credited to their students’ behavior and/or characteristics. This may have put students
who did not have such a strong Skill set at a signiﬁcant disadvantage in terms of
cultivating and beneﬁting from positive relationships with their teachers.

More Resilience than Risk

The teachers were asked to Share their perceptions of the risk factors described in
Chapter 1 of this study (racial discrimination/conﬂict and poverty) relative to their
students’ school experiences. Racial issues did not emerge among the responses of
Kindergarten teachers. They felt that their students were either too young to have an
understanding of such issues, or too young for race to have had any signiﬁcant effects on
their schooling. Some of the 5th grade teachers did acknowledge that race had been or
could have been an issue for their students. These teachers’ reaction tended to be to
protect their students from any exposure to conﬂicts or discrimination related to race. In
regard to poverty, teachers at both grade levels described effects it had had on their
students’ educational outcomes. In terms of racial discrimination and poverty, many of

the teachers felt that there was little to no impact on the students’ schooling due to the

97

strength of their support systems and their own drives to do well. Some of the 5lh grade
teachers also predicted or expressed hope that their students would use their awareness of
such risk factors as motivation to work hard to rise above them and create solid futures
for themselves.

The teachers did not perceive the risk factors discussed in Chapter 1 as having a
major role in the students’ school experiences, for the most part. These students’
resilience seemed to dramatically outweigh their levels of risk. For example, Hale (1994)
talked about the possibility of cultural mismatch between African-American students’
learning styles and the teaching styles traditionally adopted by schools. However, all of
the teachers in the present study perceived compatibility between their approaches to
teaching and their students’ learning styles. The teachers’ perceptions that their students
were minimally impacted by certain risk factors could also be explained by the way in
which they thought about risk. Land & Letgers (2002) talked about a paradigm shift, in
terms of risk factors, away from focusing on individual and family characteristics toward
larger systemic variables. These researchers indicated that more recent conceptualizations
of risk centered on factors such as deﬁcits in the school systems, economies, city
governments, etc, rather than issues related to individual students’ motivation, abilities,
support systems, etc. This appeared to be in stark contrast with how the teachers in the
present study considered variables of risk. These teachers seemed to focus more on the
individual and family variables. Had they put stronger emphasis on systemic deﬁcits
related to poverty and discrimination, they might not have perceived their students as

being as well—equipped to overcome such levels of risk.

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Even though the teachers had already Shifted the focus to resilience as they
discussed their perceptions of risk factors, they went on to identify ways in which they,
their students, and the students’ parents fostered the students’ resilience and school
success. AS with the conceptualization of risk, there was debate over how to theorize
resilience. While Masten & Coatsworth (1998) deﬁne resilience as residing within the
child or the child’s environment, Pianta & Walsh (1998) caution against that, asserting
that resilience is located in the interaction between these systems. Again, teachers in the
present study seemed to focus on individual and family variables, rather than systemic
strengths when considering resilience. When discussing their own roles in contributing to
their students’ success, teachers were reluctant to give themselves too much credit.
However, they did describe some of their efforts, such as providing them with academic
and social support; basically, making themselves available to meet their students’ needs
in anyway they can. They placed, perhaps, the greatest emphasis on the resilient
characteristics within their students. They generally described those students as highly
motivated and having the will/desire to learn, goal-oriented, tenacious, and as having the
ability/potential to excel. Teachers also perceived parents as playing a Signiﬁcant role in
supporting these children’s school success, especially among the Kindergarteners. At this
grade, it seemed imperative that parents were highly involved in their children’s
education, whether it be attending school events, frequent contact with the teacher,
helping them with homework, or physically preparing them for school. The 5th grade
teachers, on the other hand, seemed to perceive their students as more independent from
their parents and able to take more responsibility for their own Ieaming. They also

described these parents as supportive, but from more of a distance.

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The teachers’ perceptions of the risk and resilience factors impacting their
students’ school experiences had implications for their relationships with those students.
This was most clearly demonstrated through the approach teachers took to address the
cultural barriers they’d come across when working with the students and/or their families.
In each of the situations, teachers expressed the need to be sensitive to their students’
feelings and seemed to use their existing relationship to work through the barrier, and
were able to ensure that the quality of their relationship was maintained, if not
strengthened.

It was evident through the teachers’ perceptions of the risk and resilience factors
inﬂuencing their students’ schooling, and the efforts that they put forth to support their
students’ academic and personal development, that they considered their relationships
with these students to be one of many protective factors inﬂuencing the students’
educational outcomes in a positive manner. This assertion could be linked back to the
discussion pertaining to the ﬁrst research question of this study. Teachers, in general,
considered their relationships with students to be Signiﬁcant contributors to their school
success. These perceptions were likely to inform the teachers’ efforts toward building and
maintaining positive relationships with their students.

These ﬁndings also supported Irvine’s (I991) assertion that the teacher-student
relationship could be particularly important for low-income African-American students.
The teachers in the present study perceived their students as wanting their approval and
responding positively to being cared for and recognized. While such needs were likely

similar to most students, Irvine suggested that this population of students may have been

100

more sensitive to both praise and criticism from their teachers than other students, and

therefore demonstrate a higher need for positive relationships with their teachers.

Limitations of Study

One limitation was that the teachers chose the students that they discussed in the
study, possibly opting to talk about students with whom they had existing positive
relationships as opposed to students who met the criteria but may not have had good
relationships with the teachers. This may have created a biased or misleading link
between their relationships with students and the students’ school success, particularly if
there were students that the teachers were not closely aligned with in those classrooms
who were doing equally well in school.

Also, even though I attempted to meet the criteria in regard to triangulation of
data—using multiple methods and multiple sources of data in order to establish the
internal validity of the ﬁndings—the project ended up in a “lopsided triangle,” with a
heavy emphasis on data collected from the initial interview. Data from the observations

were minimally included in order to preserve the focus on teachers’ perceptions.

Directions for Future Research

Future investigations might explore the perceptions of low-income African-
American students regarding a possible link between their school success and their
relationships with their teachers. This could give further support for the value of that
relationship. It might also be beneﬁcial to explore teachers’ perceptions of relationship

quality as it relates to the school functioning of “good” vs. “challenging” students. And, a

101

study looking at the effectiveness of the relationship-building strategies (which teachers
described using with successful students) for challenging students might yield
implications for interventions. It would be helpful to use the knowledge learned from

successful Situations to address and alleviate the problem Situations.

Implications for Practice

This study generated some noteworthy implications for the practice of school
psychologists. First, it pointed to the teacher-student relationship as a viable avenue for
intervention. Most teachers felt that it was an important aspect of their students’ success,
which suggested there might be a need for consultation on strategies to build
relationships with other students, especially, perhaps, those that are not doing as well in
school. The ﬁndings also reﬂected a need for school psychologists to look at aspects of
the teacher-student relationship when conducting assessments and planning interventions
associated with any school-related academic, behavioral, and social/concerns that
students may experience. Teachers have been the primary gatekeepers of children’s
educational progress. Therefore, their relationships with students are bound to have some
degree of inﬂuence on the students’ educational outcomes. In my own practice, I will pay
greater attention and ask more detailed questions regarding teacher and student

perceptions of closeness, conﬂict, and dependency issues in their relationships.

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APPENDIX A

103

Interview I Protocol

You have been invited to participate in a research study of how teachers and children
interact at school. The purpose of the research is to Ieam more about the role teachers
play in promoting successful students. It is hoped that we can develop more responsive
schools by better understanding how teachers and parents help support children’s school
adjustment. We will tape-record you for a one-hour interview. The tapes will not be used
for any other purpose than collecting data for this research, and will not be listened to by
anyone other than the researchers who are coding the data into a computer. The tapes
will be stored in a locked ofﬁce. The student and the student’s parent(s) will also be
interviewed about their perceptions of the student’s positive school adjustment. When
the interviews are completed you will receive a $10 gift certiﬁcate for your participation.
The results of this participation will be conﬁdential, and will not be released in any
individually identiﬁable form without your prior consent, unless otherwise required by
law. No one will be able to identify you in any results from this study. Refusal to
participate or withdrawal from participation will not in any way penalize you. You may
have the results of the participation, to the extent that they can be identiﬁed as yours,
returned to you, removed from the research records, or destroyed at any time prior to the

end of the study. Do you have any questions before we begin?

Introductory Questions
I. How many years have you been teaching? At this grade? At this school?
2. What attracted you to teaching?
3. How would you deﬁne your primary roles and responsibilities as a teacher?

Core Questions: (Prompt: As you answer the following questions, please remember to keep
in mind.)
Igcher/Classroom Variables

4. In your opinion, what constitutes a successful student? How does ﬁt with your
idea of success?

5. How would you describe your teaching style? To what degree is your teaching style
compatible with this student’s Ieaming style?
a. *Do you allow students to make choices? How so?
b. *How would you describe your discipline style?

6. What expectations do you have for ’s classroom and school behavior:

104

a. "work habits
b. “interactions with peers and adults
c. *Are they similar to the expectations you hold of your other students?

What are your expectations for ’5 academic work? Are they similar to the
expectations you hold of your other students?

How do you communicate those expectations (from questions 6 and 7) to and to
the rest of your class?

How do you support ’5 Ieaming and behavior so that he/she can meet your
expectations?

3. "What do you do to engage him/her in classroom routines?

b. "What strategies do you use to engage him/her in Ieaming?

c. *Are these strategies similar to those used with other students?

Parent lnvolvement/Home-School Collaboration

 

10.

ll.

15.

How often are you in contact with ’5 parents? When and Why? How does this
compare with contact with other students’ parents?

How would you describe the interactions that you’ve observed between
and his/her parent(s)?

 

. What strategies have you used to engage his/her parents with their child’s school
experience?
. What challenges have you encountered related to working with ’5 parents? Are

they typical of your interactions with other parents?

. To what degree are your goals and expectations for similar to those held by

his/her parents?

Do you ask parents about strategies they use to support their children’s Ieaming at home?
How are they compatible with the strategies you use in the classroom?

Student/Reliionship Variables

16.

I7.

l8.

19.

What personal strengths do you see in ?
How well do you feel you know him/her as a person?

What are your expectations for ’5 continued success in future educational or life
experiences?

How would you describe the relationship between you and ? (Note to
interviewer: If there is confusion about this question, just move on to the sub-questions.)
a. "What kinds of interactions do you have with _ beyond academic instruction?
b. AHow do the two of you get along?
c. "How often do you laugh and joke with each other?
(I. * Is this similar to your relationships with other students?

105

21.

23.

24.

25.

26.

27.

28.

. To what degree do you think that your relationship with contributes to his/her

success? How so?
a. *Do you feel as ifyou are a role model and/or mentor to him/her? Why?

To your knowledge, are there other adults at school with which this student has
signiﬁcant relationships?

. What kind of conﬂicts do you experience with this student—major, minor? How do you

handle conﬂict with this student?

When this student has a social/personal problem, how do you help him/her solve it?
Academic problem?

As students develop, they become increasingly able to do things on their own. In what
ways do you encourage the independence of your students?

a. *How does this student demonstrate his/her independence?
How do you communicate to this student that you care?

In what ways do you value and integrate the individual and cultural/ethnic perspective
this student brings to your classroom?

a. What kind of cultural barriers have you encountered, if any, when working with
and his/her family?
b. How has this impacted ’5 success in your classroom

Racial discrimination/conﬂict and poverty are thought to impact students’ Ieaming in
school. Do you think one or both of these factors has affected this student’s school
experience in any way? Explain.

Now that you have reﬂected on the success of this student, what are the primary reasons
why this student is successful in school? What role has his/her parents played? The
student? You?

* = be sure to get a response to this question
A = use as prompt only if necessary, i.e. for restating or clarification

106

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107

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