AI Insight
This quasi-experimental study examined whether a 12-week cognitive-behavioral therapy training program could improve teacher expectations and subsequently enhance student outcomes among 115 third-grade teachers and 356 students across five primary schools. Teachers with initially low expectations who received the CBT intervention showed statistically significant increases in their expectation scores, and their students demonstrated improved academic performance, with the percentage scoring above 80 points rising from 40.40% to 76.20%, alongside increased positive behaviors and decreased negative behaviors.
Why it matters
This research provides evidence that structured teacher training programs can modify educator expectations and positively influence student academic achievement and classroom behavior. The findings suggest that addressing teacher mindsets through cognitive-behavioral approaches may be a viable intervention for improving educational outcomes, particularly in students whose teachers initially held low expectations.
Understand the Science
This study evaluated the effectiveness of using a cognitive-behavioral therapy based teacher training program to change teachers’ expectations of students and improve student behavior and academic performance. This paper designs and uses a quasi experimental approach with a non equivalent control group for pre-test/post test. The participants consist of 115 third grade teachers and 356 third grade students from five primary schools. Teachers identified as having low expectations received a 12 week manual CBT training program, while those identified as having high expectations were used as the control group. This study used the Teacher Expectations Scale to measure teacher expectations, the Student Behavior Observation Scale to measure changes in student behavior, and standardized Chinese and math tests to measure improvements in student academic performance. The results showed that after implementing the intervention, the teacher’s expected score significantly increased from the baseline original ratio to a higher score (after the intervention) through statistical analysis (t = 4.15, p < 0.001; Cohen’s d = 0.72). In addition, the number of students who scored over 80 points in academic tests increased during the five testing processes (40.40% in the pre-test and 76.20% in the post test); also, compared with baseline measurements, the positive behavior rate of students taught by teachers who received intervention increased, while the negative behavior rate decreased.