A recent study examining the nature of sustained student-teacher relationships shows that students who have the same teacher more than once show greater levels of achievement and fewer absences, truancies and suspensions.
The report, published by the Annenberg Institute at Brown University, also concludes that the student-teacher relationship is particularly important in determining the student’s success.
“I think there are likely many mechanisms through which another year with a teacher has a positive effect on students,” says Dr. Leigh Wedenoja, senior policy analyst at the Rockefeller Institute of Government at the State University of New York and author of the paper. “In the second year with a teacher a student knows what to expect in terms of classroom procedures and structure. They already have experience in the way a teacher assigns homework or other assignments. And they may experience less stress at the beginning of the year worrying about the unknown if they already know the teacher.”
Moreover, giving students the opportunity to have a teacher more than once is mutually beneficial–it also allows teachers to get to know and better understand their students, increasing the potential for a teacher to better meet that student’s needs.
Additional benefits of students having the same teacher more than once are highlighted in the findings:
Improved test scores
The results point to an increase in test scores in math and English that equated to nearly an additional month of learning. This is particularly significant as it pertains to high school students considering that achievement growth rates decline as students get older.
High-achieving students and white female students see larger increases in test scores in math and English with repeat teachers when compared to their peers. In addition, students whose test scores are lower, as well as male students of color, see fewer absences and suspensions when compared to their peers.
Improved behavioral outcomes
Across all grade levels, absences and suspensions are reduced slightly. Overall, the results point to a 0.5% reduction in absences, as well as a 1% drop in suspensions in one school year. However, a decrease in absences across high school students is likely more significant than absences across students in earlier grades. The study reports that one truancy in 9th grade likely leads to lower test scores, a lower GPA, and a lower chance of graduating high school.
The “spillover” effect
The study also points to evidence of a positive “spillover” effect. In cases where the concentration of repeat students in a classroom was high, their classmates who were non-repeaters are also likely to better perform academically and have a better attendance record.
“You can just imagine being a student in a class where most of your peers have had that teacher before,” says Dr. Matthew Kraft, associate professor of education and economics at Brown University and co-author of the paper. “Our evidence demonstrates that students who have had that teacher before are likely to perform better academically. And we show for the first time that it also might lead them to show up more to class and be less likely to be suspended.”
Kraft says these are all factors that help create a classroom environment that stimulates better learning and engagement.
“Assigning students and teachers to the classrooms in which they will be the most successful is an incredibly difficult and complicated task,” says Wedenoja. “In middle and high school most repeat teachers teach in multiple grades. In these structures, it would be relatively costless for administrators to increase the probability of having a repeat teacher without making sweeping changes to how classrooms are organized.”
