Exploring the impact of teacher expectations on student behavior and academic performance using cognitive behavioral...

This study evaluated the effectiveness of using a cognitive-behavioral therapy based teacher training program to change teachers' expectations of students and improve student behavior and academic performance. This paper designs and uses a quasi experimental approach with a non equivalent control group for pre-test/post test. The participants consist of 115 third grade teachers and 356 third grade students from five primary schools. Teachers identified as having low expectations received a 12 week manual CBT training program, while those identified as having high expectations were used as the control group. This study used the Teacher Expectations Scale to measure teacher expectations, the Student Behavior Observation Scale to measure changes in student behavior, and standardized Chinese and math tests to measure improvements in student academic performance. The results showed that after implementing the intervention, the teacher's expected score significantly increased from the baseline original ratio to a higher score (after the intervention) through statistical analysis (t = 4.15, p < 0.001; Cohen's d = 0.72). In addition, the number of students who scored over 80 points in academic tests increased during the five testing processes (40.40% in the pre-test and 76.20% in the post test); also, compared with baseline measurements, the positive behavior rate of students taught by teachers who received intervention increased, while the negative behavior rate decreased.