This paper provides a comprehensive description and discussion of educational research and theory on the relationship between teacher expectations and student performance. Educational interest into this relationship first arose in 1968 following the publication of research conducted by Rosenthal and Jacobson. In this now classic "Oak School" experiment, teachers were told at the beginning of the term that some students had shown unusual potential for intellectual growth.
Actually, the children named as potential "Bloomers" had been chosen at random. Yet several months later, many of them---especially first and second graders---showed unusual gains in IQ. The teachers had not spent more time with these children than with the others; nor did they treat the "bloomers" differently in any overt and obvious ways. Subtler influences appeared to have been at work---possibly the teachers' tone of voice, facial expressions, touch, and posture.
The significance of Rosenthal and Jacobson's (1968) study, if findings were valid, was tremendous in that it implied that children's academic performance was affected by teacher behaviors other than direct instruction and that, in fact, achievement outcomes of students depended, at least in part, on what teachers thought about students. This lead to such questions as: "What expectations do white teachers have of minority students and how do these expectations affect minority students' performance?" and "What general characteristics of students (e.g., clean, neat appearance vs. dishevelled appearance, worn clothes, etc.) do teachers use to form their expectations?"
As just noted, the significance of the initial work in this area rested on the assumption that the conducted research was internally valid. However, many educators and social psychologists cited a number of disturbing methodological shortcomings in Rosenthal and Jacobson's (1968) research. Thus, initial efforts in the field we...