Running head: CLASSROOM EXPECTANCY AND ACADEMIC SUCCESS The Effects of Classroom Expectancy on Student Achievement AndersonCumberland CollegeThe Effects of Classroom Expectancy on Student Achievement IntroductionThe purpose of this study was twofold: first, to investigate how classroom expectancy impacted upon student academic achievement; second, to test whether there existed interactions between learning styles that resulted in differential patterns of academic achievement in the classroom. Across America, in state after state, a decade of major reforms in education has so far failed to produce the anticipated improvement in the quality of our schools or the academic achievements of our students Recently the reform debate has intensified even further. Now almost every day one hears of a new controversy about such issues as teacher pay and accountability, parental choice, local control of the school, new and revised curricula and textbooks, new forms of tests and evaluation, and year-round school.Missing in this debate has been the discussion of the engagement and motivation of the students in the classroom themselves. This is a suspect omission, for even if we raise standards and succeed at restructuring our schools and improving the quality of our teachers. The results may be little or no improvement at all unless the students also increase their level of expectations. After all, it is the students who still must do the learning and the work.The results of the study on student’s expectations of the classroom and the patterns of student achievement further support the idea that attitudes and perceptions play a fundamental role in the learning process. Therefore, if a teacher, school district, or the education field as a whole, are to expect to raise student’s academic achievement levels we must take into account the attitudes and perceptions of each individual learner and then adapt our plans to foster more posi...
