Quantifying elementary teachers’ foreknowledge about their students

Abstract

AbstractTeachers sometimes learn information about their students prior to teaching them, a phenomenon we call “teacher foreknowledge.” This information may be useful, but it may also bias teacher expectations for students in harmful ways. To date, few studies have quantitatively documented the types of foreknowledge teachers receive. When, where, and from whom do teachers commonly acquire foreknowledge? Are some sources or types of foreknowledge perceived to be more influential than others? We explore these questions through a survey of elementary teachers (N = 414) in one U.S. state. Most respondents received foreknowledge about at least some of their students months or even years prior to teaching them, and foreknowledge was primarily transmitted within school settings. Fellow teachers and students themselves were generally characterized as the most influential sources of foreknowledge. Foreknowledge about student behavior and character was considered more influential than foreknowledge about other topics. Some of these patterns covaried with classroom-, school- and teacher-level demographic or contextual variables. We discuss implications for research and practice with a focus on educational equity.