Teacher Student Relationship

Abstract

This paper describes the outcomes of a study that tested a path model designed to predict the quality of instructional interactions between teachers and students in 46 heterogeneous general elementary education classrooms in 14 schools. The quality of instruction interactions was measured for three groups of students, students with disabilities, students at-risk, and typically achieving students. Teachers who scored low on instructional interactions had no individual interactions with students beyond checking that they were on task. High scoring teachers engaged in significant amounts of individual discussions with students about the content and concepts of the lesson, often in prolonged interchanges. Predictors of the quality of instructional interactions were the reported level of collaboration occurring in the school and a composite measure of teacher attitudes and beliefs about the integration of students with special needs in general education classrooms. Predictors of the composite measure of teacher attitudes and beliefs toward integration were teacher efficacy and the teachers' perceptions of the amount of collaborative support received from resource teachers and teaching assistants in their classrooms. The report includes diagrams illustrating the model for predicting quality of instruction interactions in general education classrooms that include students with special needs. (Contains 17 references.) (Author/CR) ******************************************************************************** Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. ******************************************************************************** Abstract Toward a Framework for Predicting Effective Inclusion in GeneralIn this study we tested a path model designed to predict the quality of instructional interactions between teachers and students in heterogeneous general education classrooms. The path model tested in the present study is a revision of a model previously developed and tested by Stanovich and Jordan. Modifications were made to the Stanovich and Jordan model, and a new set of data collected in 46 elementary classrooms in 14 schools. The quality of instructional interactions was measured for three groups of students, exceptional, at-risk and typically-achieving. Predictors of the quality of instructional interactions were the reported level of collaboration occurring in the school and a composite measure of teacher attitudes and beliefs about the integration of students with special needs in general education classrooms. Predictors of the composite measure of teacher attitudes and beliefs toward integration were teacher efficacy and the teachers' perceptions of the amount of collaborative support received from resource teachers and teaching assistants in their classrooms.