Effects of developmental relationships with teachers on middle‐school students’ motivation and performance

Abstract

We examined how middle‐school students’ motivation, belonging, school climate, and grade point average (GPA) are affected by students experiencing developmental relationships—those that go beyond teachers being caring (e.g., showing warmth to students) and providing challenge (e.g., high expectations) to also include teachers providing support, sharing power, and expanding students’ sense of possibilities. We also examined variations in those associations by student socioeconomic status (SES). The study included 534 diverse Grades 6–8 students (51% female, 46% non‐White, 33% eligible for free and reduced price meals). Structural equation modeling and regressions showed that students with better developmental relationships with their teachers had better outcomes. Developmental relationships strongly predicted academic motivation at both the beginning and end of the school year, and also directly predicted students’ sense of belonging and school climate. Relationships indirectly predicted GPA, through motivation. Student–teacher relationship quality for low‐SES students was lower and declined more than for other students. The results both reflect current literature in showing the importance of strong student–teacher relationships, and extend it in showing the worsening relationships quality for low‐income students, and in suggesting that strengthening multiple facets of student–teacher developmental relationships may have important effects on motivation and achievement of middle‐school students.

Academic Year Changes in Student-Teacher Developmental Relationships and Their Linkage to Middle and High School Students’ Motivation: A Mixed Methods Study

“…The effects on GPA were, as expected, considerably smaller, with Time 1 GPA by far the most powerful predictor of end of the year GPA. In another study, we found that the effects of developmental relationships on GPA are significant, but largely indirect, through the effect that those developmental relationships have on student's motivation (Scales et al, 2018).…”

“…When these five relational elements are experienced, students tend to report more favorable scores on a variety of psychological, social-emotional, behavioral, and academic indicators (Pekel et al, 2015; Pekel et al, 2018; Scales et al, 2018). For example, in a study of nine middle and high schools that looked at elements related to expressing care, challenging growth, and sharing power, students who reported having high levels of these strategies in their schools were 130% to 222% more likely than their peers to feel a sense of belongingness to school, and 53% to 61% more likely to feel academically confident and capable (Scales & Benson, 2007; Scales, 2013).…”

Competing discourses of power in teachers’ stories of challenging relationships with students

“…This paper reports on a longitudinal study of student–teacher relationships and motivation, focusing on the perspective of teachers. The larger study (see details in Scales et al, 2020 and Scales et al, 2019) involved more than 1500 middle and high school students and nearly 200 teachers over two school years and included quantitative student and teacher surveys, student focus groups and teacher interviews at the beginning and end of one school year, and at the beginning of the second school year. The intent of the study was to examine how the quality of student–teacher developmental relationships affects students’ academic motivation, connectedness to school, perceptions of the quality of curriculum and performance (grades and test scores).…”

“…Thijs and Fleischmann (2015) observed that students who reported high levels of closeness with their teachers tended to also exhibit higher levels of mastery goal orientation than their peers, promoting higher achievement. In addition, when the quality of a student’s relationship with their teacher increases over the academic year, students also demonstrate increases in their academic motivation and perceptions of belongingness (Martin and Dowson, 2009; Scales et al, 2019, 2020).…”

The Effect of Motivation on Teacher Retention in Public Senior High Schools: The Case of Bekwai Municipality of Ghana

“…Over the years many studies [14,15,16,17] have been done to investigate the effects of motivation on teachers' performance and their retention. Though this has somehow aided in the improvement of performances in some schools, however, the level of attrition is still high.…”