Teacher Expectations Matter

2019/06/04 by Nicholas Papageorge, Seth Gershenson, Kyung Min Kang · 1 voice · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Higher Education Research Studies #Media Influence and Politics #School Choice and Performance

paper · pdf · doi:10.1162/rest_a_00838

openalex publication_date 2019/06/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/15

Abstract

We show that tenth-grade teacher expectations affect students' likelihood of college completion. Our approach leverages a unique feature of a nationally representative dataset: two teachers provided their educational expectations for each student. Identification exploits teacher disagreements about the same student, an idea we formalize using a measurement error model. We estimate an elasticity of college completion with respect to teachers' expectations of 0.12. On average, teachers are overly optimistic, though white teachers are less so with black students. More accurate beliefs are counterproductive if there are returns to optimism or sociodemographic gaps in optimism. We find evidence of both.

Citations

• Leaving Boys Behind
• Measuring Expectations

Cited by

• The role of asset-based pedagogy in an interactive view of reading

Discussions

• This seems consistent with work on grade inflation and teacher expectations from folks like Seth Gershenson. High standards appear to have positive long-term impacts. doi.org/10.1162/rest... www.ed [bsky, 5 points, 1 comments]

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