Upper-Income Parents Want Teachers Who Make Their Children Happy

Choosing a school, and hoping for the right kind of teacher marks an important milestone for all parents. What kinds of teachers do parents want for their children? Researchers set out to answer this question. In the process, they developed very interesting information. In a recent press release, researchers at the University of Michigan released details of a study they have recently conducted.

They discovered that most parents of elementary school aged children want a teacher who their own child will like. Surprisingly, they discovered that having a teacher that their child liked was more important to parents than a teacher who would strive to meet academic achievements.

Parents wanted a school teacher than other kids like. Their academic achievements for students were secondary, or perhaps even immaterial.

It is important to note that researchers found striking differences when they compared what parents wanted, and different schools and school districts, and income levels.

Families who came from higher poverty levels placed more emphasis on student achievement in school over anything else. These families didn't really care, or they were indifferent, about whether or not their children liked their school teachers. They simply wanted their children to learn.

Families in wealthier school districts were the opposite. These families place more importance on their child liking their teacher. The did not want to contend with students not liking their school teacher.

Researches said that these findings were consistent with previous studies. These studies have demonstrated that while both low-income and high-income parents want their children to learn, there are more problems occurring in schools where the majority of the student population comes from low-income households.

High-income families want their children to learn, but are not willing to sacrifice other aspects of classroom management or basic skills that teachers may have to contend with in low-income schools. While student satisfaction or enjoyment cannot be measured on any tests, parents in high-income schools place more emphasis on student enjoyment.

Schools with large volumes of low-income students tend to have more problems including classroom disruption, disruptive peers, less experienced teachers, and even lower expectations from the entire educational staff. These types of problems are not typically found in upper-income schools.

"The value of this study is that it helps education practitioners and policymakers better understand how factors such as family poverty can influence what parents are looking for in a school. While all parents presumably want what is best for their children, this can mean very different things depending on the school and neighborhood context," said Lars Lefgren, an economist at Brigham Young University.

Source:
http://www.newswise.com/p/articles/view/535938/