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interaction process between teacher and students: The labeling of students on the basis of relative characteristics, The

Social Behavior and Personality, 2000 by Maas, Cora J M

Achievements of students in primary education have been the object of study over a long period. Both individual and contextual characteristics have proved their value for the prediction of these achievements. In this paper a theoretical model of the time and attention division of the teacher is elaborated. From this model, hypotheses are deduced about the labeling of a student as a problem student, and the possible referral of problem students to special education. Relative student characteristics are predicted to be of more importance than absolute characteristics. Hypotheses testing is based on data about 2,340 students in the Netherlands. The hypotheses are confirmed. Labeling of problem students is based on the relative achievements and relative behavior of students, while the referral to special education also can be predicted on the basis of relative achievements.

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Research into the achievements of students has a long tradition. Globally, two trends can be distinguished: firstly, analysis of individual characteristics of students and secondly, research which concerns the context in which the education takes place. Both approaches have proved their value for the explanation of the achievements of students, and each will be discussed briefly.

The most important individual characteristics in relation to educational achievements are social background, gender and ethnicity. Since there is research into the achievements of students, it is known that students with a low social background achieve less than do students with a higher social background. The point of view that these lower achievements were caused by lower intelligence (Hirsch, 1967; Mathijssen, 1971) was soon replaced by the idea that students from lower social classes are socially deprived (Bernstein, 1960; Coleman, Campbell & Hobson, 1968). On the basis of this idea compensation projects, such as the Head Start project and the GEON project in the Netherlands, were initiated. Unfortunately, the improvements in achievements based on such projects were only temporary. Research of more recent date shows that the achievement differences between social classes still exist (Bosker & Van der Velden, 1989; Crane, 1996; Hanley & McKeever, 1997).

The second characteristic of importance is the gender of the students. In primary education, the differences between the achievements of boys and girls are not large. In general, boys are slightly better in maths, and girls in language (Wijnstra, 1988; Zwart, 1990). Later on in the educational career, differences are found more frequently (Engelhard, Gordon & Gabrielson, 1994; Zhou, Moen & Tuma, 1998). The choice for exact or technical sciences is also gender specific (Dekkers, 1990; Kuyper, 1990).

Thirdly, the ethnicity of the student is relevant. Since the beginning of the sixties, the Dutch education system has been confronted with an ever-increasing number of foreigners. These students achieve much less than their autochtonous peers (Ankersmit, Roelandt & Veenman, 1989; Everts, Golhof, Stassen, & Teunissen, 1985). In other countries also research into racial differences in achievements is frequently reported (Hedges & Nowell, 1999; Kalmijn & Kraaykamp, 1996; Smith, 1984).

The second approach focuses attention on the context. Students obtain their education in classes and schools. Processes within, and characteristics of, these contexts play an important role in the achievement of the students as well. Till the sixties, research into school effectiveness almost always referred to static characteristics, such as the number of books in the school, the number of students in a class and the salaries of the teachers. The conclusion drawn from such research was that 'schools do not make a difference' (Coleman, et al., 1968; Jencks, Smith & Acland, 1972). As a consequence, the attention of the school effectiveness research shifted to more dynamic processes, the results of which have been summarized in a number of papers. (Edmonds, 1979; Mackenzie, 1983; Purkey & Smith, 1983). Five characteristics of effective schools can be distinguished. First a strong leadership, and further: high expectations about achievements, emphasis on basic skills, a school climate containing both discipline and pleasure, and emphasis on the evaluation of the progress of the students.

There was also research into the processes inside the classroom: effectiveness of teachers (Creemers, 1990; Dochy, 1988), teacher thinking (Letiche, Van der Wolf & Plooy, 1991; Brown, Collins & Duguid, 1991), influences of curricula (Kulik, 1986; Lai & Biggs, 1994), the hidden curriculum (Jungbluth, 1985; Rosenthal & Jacobson, 1968), ways of grouping of students (Kulik & Kulik, 1982; Reezigt & Weide, 1989), and influences of the mean achievements of a group (Beckerman & Good, 1981; Dar & Resh, 1986; Leiter, 1983) are examples of these.

This paper will elaborate upon one aspect of this second approach. A model for the interaction process between teacher and students will be developed. The basis of this model is a description of the process in which the teacher comes to the evaluation of the achievements of his/her students. Attention will be focused on the comparisons the teacher makes among his/her students, and the idea that the evaluation of the achievements is based ultimately on the relative characteristics of students will be discussed. The model will be tested on data about the labeling of students as problematic and the possible referral of these problem students to special education. The research question of this paper is as follows: To what degree is the characterization of students as problematic, and their consequent referral to special education, caused by relative student characteristics?

interaction process between teacher and students: The labeling of students on the basis of relative characteristics, The

Social Behavior and Personality, 2000 by Maas, Cora J M

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