Teacher-Student Interactions

This chapter conceptually frames research on teacher-student interactions and summarizes the evidence linking such interactions with student outcomes. It realizes the promise of linking developmental psychology with education science, practice, and policy will require an even greater appreciation and deepening exploitation of schools as contexts for human development. The chapter examines these possibilities for intersection in some depth, around the particular focus on proximal processes in classrooms related to interactions with teachers. One way to frame the intersection of schooling and development is to consider the school setting in terms of demand and opportunity. National-level observations of US elementary school indicate that the nature and quality of the instructional and social features of teacher-student interactions are generally low, and even lower for less advantaged students. For teachers in high-poverty classrooms, coaching had an even stronger positive effect on quality of teacher-student interaction.