Examining Teacher–Child Relationships and Achievement as Part of an Ecological Model of Development

Abstract

The purpose of the present study is to examine associations between quality of teacher-child relationships from preschool through third grade and children's third-grade achievement using Phases I, II, and III data

Child and Family Predictors of Child-Teacher Relationship Trajectories during the Transition from Preschool to School

“…Using the person-centered trajectory method of latent class growth modeling, we identified two subgroups: a stable high quality child-teacher relationship trajectory, and a more atypical moderate/declining quality child-teacher relationship trajectory, a pattern which characterized 13.5% of our sample. The trajectory patterns found in the present study resembled those found by [10], who also identified a subgroup of 13% that had poor-declining child-teacher relationships.…”

“…Nonetheless, some variation does exist in child-teacher relationship quality across the early school years, with moderate year-to-year stability usually found [24]. Another study [10] found only moderate stability in the quality of children"s relationships with their different teachers in the first three years of school, demonstrating the dynamic and dyadic nature of relationships between a child and their various teachers. Subgroups of children who followed different growth trajectories for child-teacher relationship from preschool to third grade were then identified.…”

“…O"Connor [5] concluded that children's relationships with kindergarten teachers are extremely important because they appear to form a basis for future relationships. Other studies by this group using person-centered approaches capable of detecting subgroups of children that follow atypical trajectories did find that children with an early insecure-other (disorganized) maternal attachment were more likely than others to have a declining trajectory of child-teacher relationship quality between pre-kindergarten and third grade [10], and specifically were more likely to show stable low-closeness in their child-teacher relationships [25].…”

“…They found that children in groups with elevated levels of conflict demonstrated higher levels of externalizing behaviors than those in the low-conflict group, and children in the stable-low-closeness group had higher levels of internalizing behaviors than those in the high-closeness group. In another study, [10] found that over the first three years of school, a small decrease each year in child-teacher relationship quality was predictive of lower levels of achievement by third grade.…”

“…Longitudinal studies of elementary school children have found that positive trajectories of child-teacher relationship quality (characterized by children experiencing high closeness and less conflict over time) are significantly associated with better academic outcomes [6], [10], and better mental health outcomes [18], [25], [26]. For example, [25] used person-centered longitudinal analyses to identify different trajectory groups on teacher-child relational closeness and conflict in the first 5 years of school.…”