Teacher Perceptions of Teacher-Student Relationships: How Well Do Teachers Know Their
Students and Does it Really Matter?
Ang, R. P. (2005). Development and validation of the teacher-student relationship inventory
using exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis. Journal of Experimental Education,
74, 55-73. doi:10.3200/jexe.74.1.55-74
The purpose of this article is to describe the development and validation of a new
student-teacher relationship measure. Most researchers use the STRS (Student-Teacher
Relationship Scale) when measuring teacher-student relationships. The STRS was
developed to be used with teachers of students in pre-k to third grade and can be very
time-consuming. Ang wanted to develop a quicker measurement tool that could be
used with upper elementary and middle school teachers. The author developed the
TSRI (Teacher-Student Relationship Inventory), a 16-item measurement using a 5point Likert Scale. Not only did the author validate the TSRI, she also provided
evidence that teacher-student relationships in upper elementary and middle school
influence student achievement and behavior. This article provides further support for
my research by describing the development and validity of the TSRI and how it differs
from the STRS.
Fraser, B. J., & Walberg, H. J. (2005). Research on teacher-student relationships and
learning environments: Context, retrospect and prospect. International Journal of
Educational Research, 43,103-109. doi:10.1016/j.ijer.2006.03.001
QTI, Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction, is the topic of this article. Fraser and
Walberg described the measurement and review some of the studies that have used
QTI. The QTI is used internationally in research on teacher-student relationships and
the learning environment. Previous research using the QTI has been completed on
students with disabilities, both in inclusion and resource classes. The article also
reiterated the point that studies involving the QTI have replicated an empirical link
between teacher-student relationships and student achievement, as well as behavior.
This article discussed the QTI and the research in practical terms, making it very easy
to understand. I will use the information on the QTI and past studies using the QTI to
help me determine which measurements I will use for my study.
Fumoto, H. (2011). Teacher-child relationships and early childhood practice. Early Years: An
International Journal of Research and Development, 31, 19-30. doi: 10.1080/09575146.2010.535790
Fumoto’s study is the first qualitative study on teacher-student relationships that I have
read. It should be noted that the author did use the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale
(STRS) to categorize his questioning. The intent of the author is to observe and
interview two classroom teachers to reveal how teachers interact with children and
what are the teachers’ experiences? Fumoto hopes that by revealing the characteristics
of an effective teacher, more professional development can be used to train teachers
and retain teachers. His rationale for this study is threefold. First, there is a need to
document teachers’ experiences to understand the value of their expertise. One third of
early childhood teachers leave the profession each year and the turnover is four times
higher than those who teach older students. Second is the need to document how
experienced teachers interact with students and expose them to rich experiences. This
is an issue in the United States as early childhood pedagogy is being challenged by
more rigorous standards of learning. Third, there is a need to utilize effective,
experienced teachers in professional development by valuing their practices. In a time
of financial strain, many schools are not utilizing professional development
opportunities. The author recommends more collaborative planning, peer observations,
and meaningful professional development. I would like to combine the qualitative
aspects of the study with quantitative data on a much larger group of participants.
Hamre, B. K., & Pianta, R. C. (2001). Early teacher-child relationships and the trajectory of
children's school outcomes through eighth grade. Child Development, 72, 625-638.
doi: 10.1111/1467-8624.00301
Hamre and Pianta’s study is based on the assumption that the teacher-student
relationship in kindergarten can predict future student problems or success. This
hypothesis is based on previous research that produced evidence of the significance of
the teacher-student relationship on student achievement and behavior. Their study
followed a sample of 179 kindergarten students to eighth grade by studying grades,
standardized test scores, discipline records, and work-habits. They found that
relational negativity in teacher-student relationships resulted in negative academic and
behavioral outcomes in eighth grade. This work, like most of the studies on teacherstudent relationships, is based on the attachment theory. The Teacher-Child Rating
Scale (TCRS) was used in this study and was given in May of the kindergarten year.
The kindergarten teachers also took the STRS (Student-Teacher Relationship Scale) in
May of the students’ kindergarten year. Not only does this study inform me of another
teacher-student relationship measurement, but it also gives me an idea of how to do the
data analysis using correlations and regressions. This article is considered to be the
standard of research on teacher-student relationships. It was conducted under the
authorization and support of the Office of Educational Research and Improvement and
the United States Department of Education. It is also interesting that the author
includes his address and e-mail, which I have planned to use as a resource.
Hughes, J., & Kwok, O. (2007). Influence of student-teacher and parent-teacher relationships
on lower achieving readers' engagement and achievement in the primary grades. Journal
of Educational Psychology, 99, 39-51. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.99.1.39
Referencing previous studies on teacher-student relationships, Hughes and Kwok
hypothesize that there are gender and racial disparities in teacher-student relationships.
Their second hypothesis is that teacher-student relationships influence academic
motivation and engagement. Finally, the authors propose that academic engagement
and motivation account for the quality of academic achievement. First grade teachers,
students, and parents of the students participated in this study. Of particular interest to
me were the measurements used for the study. For academic achievement, the
researchers used the Woodcock-Johnson III. Child engagement was measured using a
portion of the Conscientious scale of the Big Five Inventory. For teacher-student
relationships, the Teacher Relationship Inventory (TRI) was given to the teachers.
Teachers also completed a perception questionnaire on parent involvement. Finally, of
most interest to me, the students were surveyed by asking them to select students in
the classroom to participate in a class play. Students were asked to select classmates
that liked to talk to their teachers and that the teachers enjoyed spending time with. I
thought this was a very interesting method of gaining the students’ perceptions of
which students the teachers liked and didn’t like. In the conclusion, the article stated
that teachers should have more professional learning on developing teacher-student
relationships if we are ever going to close the achievement gap. The authors also
suggest that this study be replicated with other subjects to further publicize and make
administrators aware of the importance of positive teacher-student relationships.
Klem, A. M., & Connell, J. P. (2004). Relationships matter: Linking teacher support to student
engagement and achievement. Journal of School Health, 74, 262-273.
doi:10.1111/j.1746-1561.2004.tb08283.x
The authors, Klem and Connell, are both researchers for the Institute for Research and
Reform in Education. This study was performed using a reduced model of a study
conducted by Connell in 1991. Connell’s study explained the linkages between a
student’s experiences in social context, their self-esteem, their patterns of action, and
their outcomes of academic performance when compared to teacher-student
relationships. For the purpose of this study, Klem and Connell asked the following
research questions: 1) What threshold levels on teacher support and engagement are
critical to later academic success? 2) How much difference does achieving the
threshold levels contribute to the likelihood of school success or failure? 3) How
effective is the First Things First school-reform model in improving levels of teacher
support and 4) What are its affects on student engagement and achievement? I found
this study particularly interesting and relative to my proposed study. Not only did this
study give me ideas for measurement tools and data analysis methods, but it also gave
me information of the school-reform model, First Things First. First Things First
(FTF) is a reform initiative developed by the Institute for Research and Reform in
Education. FTF helps create personalized learning environments by creating small
learning communities (SLC’s) and incorporates high-quality, standards-based teaching
and learning. After reading this article, I intend to further investigate the reform
model, First Things First. The authors stated that an independent study was being
conducted at the time of their study. I am anxious to read the findings of this
independent study to see if it correlates with the study by Klem and Connell.
Maldonado-Carreno, C., & Votruba-Drzal, E. (2011). Teacher-child relationships and the
development of academic and behavioral skills during elementary school: A within- and
between-child analysis. Child Development, 82, 601-616. doi: 10.1111/j/14678624.2010.01533.x
The data from the study in this article is taken from the National Institute of Child
Health and Human Development (NICHD) Study of Early Child Care. The authors’
goal of their study is to examine whether the quality of teacher-student relationships is
associated with academic and behavioral changes through fifth grade. The authors
chose to do this longitudinal study due to fact that most of the research on teacherstudent relationships had been conducted on kindergarten and first grade teacherstudent relationships. The authors proposed that empirical evidence proves that
teacher-student relationships weaken as students get older. Some of the reasons for this
include that the teacher is more focused on academics rather than nurturing, class size
is larger, and students often change classes as they get older. For these reasons, the
authors chose to do a longitudinal study of students from kindergarten to fifth grade.
The authors also suggest that previous research had methodological limitations by
relying entirely upon between-child comparisons. Maldonado-Carreno and VotrubaDrzal suggest that within-child associations between teacher-student relationship
quality and student functioning are a way to reduce the threat of omitted variables
caused by between-child comparisons. The researchers found that some of their
research was inconsistent with previous research on teacher-student relationships. The
other studies did not include a control for initial differences in standardized
achievement scores. They concluded the associations between teacher-student
relationships and standardized academic achievement may not be due to higher quality
teacher-student relationships, but rather due to the students’ own intellectual abilities,
the quality of instruction, or rater bias. This research study encouraged me to think
deeply about all of the variables, both observed and unobserved that may have an
affect on teacher-student relationships.
Saft, E. W., & Pianta, R. C. (2001). Teachers' perceptions of their relationships with students:
Effects of child age, gender, and ethnicity of teachers and children. School Psychology
Quarterly, 16, 125-41. Retrieved from http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/spq/index.aspx
In this study, Saft and Pianta, examine the relation between teachers’ perceptions of
their relationships with their students compared to teacher ethnicity, child age, child
ethnicity, and gender using the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS). Questions
for the STRS are derived from the attachment theory. Pianta is considered to be an
expert in the field of teacher-student relationships and is referenced in many research
studies and articles. The data in this study were analyzed using four separate
regression analyses. I found this article relevant to my research as it is based on the
attachment theory and the authors used the STRS for measurement of teacher-student
relationships. The extensive reference list is both useful and informative. I intend to
read more about the attachment theory in order to better understand its meaning and
relevance to my topic.
Spilt, J. L., & Koomen, H. Y. (2009). Widening the view on teacher-child relationships:
Teachers' narratives concerning disruptive versus nondisruptive children. School Psychology
Review, 38, 86-101. Retrieved from http://www.nasponline.org/publications/spr/sprissues.apx
The authors of this article are Jantine Spilt, a doctoral candidate in special education at
the University of Amsterdam, and Helma Koomen, an assistant professor at the
University of Amsterdam. The goal of their research is to validate the narrative
measurement, Teacher Relationship Interview (TRI), by comparing it to the wellvalidated measure, the Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS). The authors felt
that the STRS, which is in questionnaire form, taps mainly into cognitive thinking. In
contrast, the TRI captures unconscious thoughts of teachers. The article emphasizes
the importance of positive teacher-student relationships, which is based on Bowling’s
attachment theory. The research in this article is relevant to my study as it describes
two methods of measurement of teacher-student relationships and the components of
each.
Teven, J. J., & McCroskey, J. C. (1997). The relationship of perceived teacher caring with
student learning and teacher evaluation. Communication Education, 46, 1-9.
doi:10.1080/03634529709379060
Teven and McCroskey, the authors of this article hypothesize that it is not how much a
teacher cares or IF she cares about the student, but it is more important that she be
“perceived” as caring. Earlier research by McCroskey indicated that empathy,
understanding, and responsiveness lead students to believe the teacher is caring.
Therefore, their research questions were: 1) Are teachers that are perceived to be more
caring evaluated more positively by their students? 2) Do students who perceive their
teacher as more caring evaluate the course content more positively? 3) Do students
who perceive their teacher as caring report to have learned more? Their study was
based on the Aristotelian theory of a positive relationship between perceived ethos and
other positive attitudes toward a source. The data was analyzed by computing simple
correlations between scores for perceived caring and those for teacher evaluation and
both affective and cognitive learning. All three hypotheses were proved to be true. The
authors of this study gave many suggestions for future studies and also gave another
theory for the value of teacher-student relationships. I will use this information to do
further research and perhaps add another indicator to my study.