What effect describes the influence of a teacher's expectations on a student's academic performance?

The teacher-expectancy effect describes how a teacher's expectations can significantly influence a student's academic performance. When teachers hold high expectations for certain students, they may provide more encouragement, support, and opportunities for those students, which can lead to improved performance. Conversely, if a teacher has low expectations for a student, they might inadvertently offer less support, resulting in that student performing poorly.

This concept aligns closely with the broader idea of the self-fulfilling prophecy, where belief in a particular outcome can lead to its realization. However, the teacher-expectancy effect specifically highlights the role of the teacher’s expectations in shaping student performance. Cognitive bias is less focused on the interpersonal dynamics between teachers and students and more about individual mental processes that lead to systematic deviations from norm or rationality in judgment. The Rosenthal effect, while closely connected, emphasizes the role of the researcher or teacher’s expectations in influencing outcomes in experimental settings but isn’t as precisely defined as the teacher-expectancy effect when it comes to education.