The Link between the Teacher-Student Relationship and Academic Achievement

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The teacher-student relationship has been linked to academic achievement throughout a student’s elementary and secondary educational years. This relationship is characterized by “having the presence of closeness, warmth, and positivity” (Baker et al., 2008; O’Connor, Dearing, & Collins, 2011; Silver, Measelle, Armstron, & Essex, 2005). When a teacher displays these characteristics, it enables students to feel safe and secure in their learning environments which in turn empowers the student towards high academic achievement. The following literature review will take ten examples that will show strong support to this hypothesis. Findings In the article: Academic performance, course completion rates, and student perception of the quality and frequency of interaction in a virtual high school, researchers took 2269 virtual high school students and their teachers, and examined the relationship between the student and teacher. It also looked into if interaction and academic achievement were connected. The program is set up so the student works at his/her own pace. The quality and frequency of interaction had a profound impact on student completion of the course. A huge limitation, to this study, was that the survey was given at the completion of the course for students who e enrolled from February 1, 2008-January 31, 2009. Not all students had completed the course, although the results proved that there is a correlation between interaction and academic success, it did not include all the students enrolled. Effects of Teacher-Student Relationships This article discussed the association between positive Teacher-Student relationships and academic achievement. “Positive teacher-student relationships are classified as having... ... middle of paper ... ...ine L., and Oort, Frans J. The Influence of Affective Teacher-Student Relationships on Students' School Engagement and Achievement: A Meta-Analytic Approach. Review of Educational Research December 2011, Vol. 81, No. 4, pp. 493–529 2011 AERA. http://rer.aera.net. Skinner E, Belmont M. Motivation in the classroom: Reciprocal effects of teacher behavior and student engagement across the school year. Journal of Educational Psychology 1993;85:571–581. Suldo, Shannon M., McMahan, Melanie M., Chappel, Ashley M., and Bateman, Lisa P. Evaluation of the Teacher-Student Relationship Inventory in American High School Students. Journal of Psychoeducational Assessment 2014 32: 3 originally published online 6 May 2013 Wehlage, G., Rutter, R., Smith, F., Lesko, N., & Fernandez, R. (1989). Reducing the risk: Schools as communities of support. New York, NY: Falmer Press. P. 122

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