Running head: TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS AND ACHIEVEMENT 1

Impact of Teacher-Student Relationships on Academic Achievement in Elementary School:

A Literature Review

Aaron Soo Ping Chow

University of Pennsylvania
TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS AND ACHIEVEMENT 2

Impact of Teacher-Student Relationships on Academic Achievement in Elementary School:

A Literature Review

Research has identified associations between academic achievement in elementary school

and subsequent achievement (Ensminger & Slusarcick, 1992; Hernandez, 2011; Jimerson,

Egeland, Sroufe, & Carlson, 2000; Stroup & Robins, 1972), either through grade retention

(Jimerson, 2001; Jimerson, Anderson, & Whipple, 2001; McCoy & Reynolds, 1999) or low self-

esteem or self-concept (Haney & Durlak, 1998). As a result, a great deal of focus has been placed

on the various classroom, familial and peer factors that might boost the achievement of

elementary school students and improve their chances of success as they transition through

middle and high school.

Teacher-student relationship quality (TSRQ) is one highly examined factor that educators

believe is essential to the academic success of children. This relationship is often impacted by

students’ socioemotional and temperamental characteristics (Rudasill & Rimm-Kaufman, 2009;

Stipek and Miles, 2008) and engagement and motivation (Jenkins & Deno, 1969; Skinner &

Belmont, 1993). As children in elementary school are more dependent on teachers, on average,

than those in middle and high school, it is vital to understand how teacher-student relationships

and interactions can impact and predict various school adjustment measures such as

socioemotional skills, levels of prosocial and antisocial behavior and academic achievement and

growth.

An analysis of the existing literature reveals that teacher-student relationship quality in

elementary school acts directly and indirectly on academic achievement and that further

emphasis must be placed on mediating factors that are pertinent to fostering academic success

instead of solely focusing on mending and forming positive teacher-student relationships.

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Review of Literature

Prior to synthesizing and analyzing the relevant literature, three of the primary measures

used to define and examine teacher-student relationship quality will be discussed. These

constructs have been used extensively in the field in elementary schools and have demonstrated

good construct and predictive validity and test-retest reliability.

Teacher-Student Relationship Quality Measures

Student-Teacher Relationship Scale (STRS). The STRS (Pianta & Steinberg, 1992) is the

most commonly used measure of teacher-student relationship quality in the educational

psychology literature. It was developed by Pianta and colleagues to measure a teacher’s

perception of his or her relationship with a particular student in terms of closeness, conflict, and

dependency. This measure is most appropriate for students in preschool through third grade. The

following three statements are items from the STRS that apply to the closeness, conflict, and

dependency scales respectively: 1) “I share an affectionate, warm relationship with this child,” 2)

“This child and I always seem to be struggling with each other,” and 3) “If upset, this child will

seek comfort from me,” (Pianta & Steinberg, 1992).

Network of Relationships Inventory (NRI). The NRI was developed to examine children’s

perspectives of their relationships with others in their social network with respect to several types

of support/warmth and conflict (Furman & Buhrmester, 1985). This measure was meant to

provide researchers with an alternative method of collecting data on teacher-student relationship

quality that came from the student’s perspective and that could extend beyond the third grade.

Similarly to the use of the STRS, it is commonly utilized to examine how the relationship quality

between children and others, such as parents, siblings, and teachers, affect individual outcomes

such as depression, loneliness and academic achievement. In the educational psychology

TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS AND ACHIEVEMENT 4

literature, a support scale and conflict scale are commonly used to express differences in teacher-

student relationship quality. Support items include, “How much does your teacher treat you like

you’re admired and respected?” while conflict items include “How much does this teacher

punish you?” (Hughes et al., 2012, p. 354).

Teacher Student Relationship Inventory (TSRI). The TSRI was adapted from existing

teacher-report measures such as the NRI, to examine teachers’ perceptions of their relationships

with students during secondary school (Ang, 2005). In the educational psychology literature,

specifically in research focused on the association between TSRQ and achievement, items on the

TSRI are combined to form support and conflict scores. Support items include, “This child gives

me many opportunities to praise him or her,” while conflict items include, “This child and I often

argue or get upset with each other” (Hughes, Luo, Kwok, & Loyd, 2008, p. 6).

Examining Teacher-Student Relationship Quality from Teacher’s Perspective

The majority of research concerning teacher-student relationship quality comes from the

perspective of the teacher. These ratings of TSRQ are typically examined alongside teacher-rated

academic competencies and standardized achievement scores to determine the extent to which

TSRQ impacts or predicts the academic achievement of students.

Teacher-Rated Academic Competencies. Pianta and Stuhlman (2004) utilized a sample

of 490 children who were participants in the National Institute of Child Health and Human

Development’s Study of Early Child Care and Youth Development (NICHD-SECCYD; NICHD

Early Child Care Research Network, 1993). They investigated whether teacher-student

relationship quality in preschool through first grade are significant predictors of early school

adjustment in first grade. The original sample from the NICHD-SECCYD consisted of 1,364
TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS AND ACHIEVEMENT 5

full-term, healthy newborns, who were recruited from 24 designated hospitals at ten data

collection sites in 1991. These children were observed in preschool, kindergarten and first grade.

The researchers utilized the closeness and conflict scores of the STRS (Pianta &

Steinberg, 1992) to examine teacher-student relationship quality in preschool through first grade

and asked teachers in the Spring of first grade to rate their student’s academic achievement in six

content areas, which averaged to form the Current School Performance composite. In conducting

the regression analyses, Pianta and Stuhlman controlled for the gender and poverty status of the

child and the child’s vocabulary skills at 54 months old, that is, vocabulary skills in preschool,

which was assessed using the Picture Vocabulary subtest of the Woodcock-Johnson Psycho-

Educational Battery-Revised Tests of Cognitive Ability and Achievement (WJ-R; Woodcock &

Johnson, 1989).

The hierarchical regression analyses revealed that teacher-perceived conflict and

closeness with students in first grade were significant predictors of teacher ratings of

achievement in first grade, above and beyond the vocabulary skills in preschool and the

demographic variables. In other words, first grade teachers rated children's achievement more

highly when they reported sharing a closer relationship, and assigned lower achievement ratings

when they reported a more conflictual relationship. TSRQ conflict and closeness scores in

preschool and kindergarten were not statistically significant in predicting teacher-rated

achievement in first grade.

Maldonado-Carreño and Votruba-Drzal (2011) also provided an examination of the

impact of teacher-perceived TSRQ on teacher-rated achievement using data from the 1,364

participants from the NICHD-SECCYD (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 1993)

previously mentioned. However, in addition to investigating the between-child associations

TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS AND ACHIEVEMENT 6

between TSRQ and academic achievement, this study also focuses on the existence of within-

child associations which strengthens the causal argument about the importance of teacher-student

relationships due to its potential to reduce possible bias. Furthermore, this study extends the

examination to students in later elementary years, that is, students in fourth grade and fifth grade.

Teacher-student relationship quality was assessed using the STRS (Pianta & Steinberg,

1992) to create a composite relationship quality score based off of the closeness and conflict

scales. Academic achievement was measured via teacher reports that were obtained once a year

from kindergarten to fifth grade using the Academic Rating Scale from the Early Childhood

Longitudinal Study (ECLS; Nicholson, Atkins-Burnett, & Meisels, 2002). Teachers rated

children’s skills in two distinct areas: language and literacy, and mathematics. In conducting the

two-level hierarchical linear models in the study, the authors included the following covariates:

race and gender of the child; maternal age, education, marital status, and employment; household

income, number of children in household, public assistance receipt, and quality of home

environment; and teaching experience.

The authors found significant between-child effects of average teacher-student

relationship quality on teacher-reported achievement in language and literacy, and mathematics.

Teachers rated children as having higher language and literacy and mathematics achievement

when they perceived themselves as having an overall more positive relationship with the child.

Average TSRQ, however, was not significantly related to improvements in academic

achievement from kindergarten through fifth grade when reported by teachers. In the

examination of within-child associations, the authors found that within-child improvement in

TSRQ was significantly associated with advancements in teacher-rated academic skills.

TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS AND ACHIEVEMENT 7

Standardized Achievement Scores. As teacher-perceived academic competencies can be

highly affected by the relationship quality with their students, many researchers have focused on

using standardized achievement scores to provide a more objective estimate of the impact of

teacher-student relationships on early school outcomes. In addition to the teacher-reported

achievement scores in the studies by Pianta and Stuhlman (2004) and Maldonado-Carreño &

Votruba-Drzal (2011), the authors also incorporated subtests from the WJ-R (Woodcock &

Johnson, 1989) to determine the impact of TSRQ on standardized achievement measures.

Pianta and Stuhlman (2004) found that teachers’ perceptions of relationship quality with

their students, from preschool through first grade, was not a significant predictor of vocabulary

skills in first grade, as measured by the Picture Vocabulary subtest of the WJ-R, when vocabulary

skills in preschool and demographic variables were accounted for. Similarly, Maldonado-Carreño

& Votruba-Drzal (2011) found no significant associations between teacher-student relationship

quality and achievement on the Letter-Word Identification, Picture Vocabulary, and Applied

Problems subtests of the WJ-R, after controlling for various child, teacher, and household

characteristics. These findings are particularly relevant to the literature as both studies showcase

findings of significant associations between TSRQ and teacher-rated achievement but no

significant associations between TSRQ and standardized achievement scores.

Hajovsky, Mason, and McCune (2017) provided a similar examination of the NICHD-

SECCYD (NICHD Early Child Care Research Network, 1993) data as Maldonado-Carreño &

Votruba-Drzal (2011). They, however, assessed the longitudinal reciprocal associations of TSRQ

and academic achievement using multiple group, longitudinal panel models. This methodology,

unlike the hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) method used previously, does not assume

directionality and allows researchers to examine the impact of previous achievement levels on
TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS AND ACHIEVEMENT 8

subsequent TSRQ scores. The researchers again found that teacher-student relationship quality

did not explain longitudinal changes in subsequent achievement on the Letter-Word

Identification and Applied Problems subtests once previous levels were controlled for.

Other studies that have utilized standardized achievement scores as their primary school

adjustment measure have found significant associations between teacher-student relationship

quality and achievement through mediated variables. These are variables that partially or

completely explain the relationship between two variables by acting as a potential mechanism

through which the independent variable impacts the dependent variable. One such finding was

established by Hughes, Luo, Kwok, and Loyd (2008) in their 3-year longitudinal study of

academically at-risk students.

Hughes, Luo, Kwok, and Loyd (2008) examined data of 671 first-grade students,

recruited from three school districts in Texas in the Fall of 2001 and 2002, that were observed

over the course of three years. Children were eligible to participate in the study if they were

classified as at-risk by fulfilling the following criteria: i) scored below the median on a state-

approved, district-administered measure of literacy, ii) spoke either English or Spanish, iii) were

not receiving special education services, and iv) had not been previously retained in first grade.

As some participants were retained in first grade following completion of their first year in the

study, the researchers referred to the three years of the study as first grade, year 2, and year 3.

Hughes and colleagues (2008) used a TSRQ composite score of the support and conflict

scales of the Teacher Student Relationship Inventory (TSRI; Ang, 2005) to measure teacher-

student relationship quality. In addition, they used the Letter–Word Identification, Reading

Fluency, Passage Comprehension, Math Fluency, and Math Calculations subtests of the

Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement (WJ-III; Woodcock, McGrew, & Mather, 2001) to
TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS AND ACHIEVEMENT 9

examine reading and mathematics achievement across the first three years of elementary school.

During the study, teachers also rated their students annually on effortful engagement and conduct

engagement.

The authors found results suggesting that the mediating effect of effortful engagement

accounts for the effect of teacher-student relationship quality on subsequent academic

achievement. Conducting several structural equation models, they found that the effect of

teacher-student relationship quality in first grade on math and reading achievement in year 3 was

fully mediated through effortful engagement in year 2, while controlling for conduct

engagement, and prior levels of achievement, TSRQ, and effortful engagement. One might ask

how teacher-student relationship quality can affect achievement two years later, particularly

when the student’s teacher has changed. It is believed that mediating variables such as

engagement, as well as others not discussed in the Hughes et al. (2008) study such as sense of

belonging in school, are impacted by TSRQ and then impact subsequent academic achievement.

As other studies have shown similar results (Hughes & Kwok, 2007; Ladd, Birch, &

Buhs, 1999; O’Connor & McCartney, 2007; Palermo, Hanish, Martin, Fabes, & Reiser, 2007), it

is becoming necessary to discuss whether researchers should be focusing on teacher-child

relationship quality or on the other mediating variables in order to foster academic achievement.

Examining Teacher-Student Relationship Quality from Student’s Perspective

Few empirical studies have used the student’s perspective as a report of teacher-student

relationship quality to examine the association between TSRQ and academic achievement.

Hughes, Wu, Kwok, Villarreal, and Johnson (2012) used the warmth and conflict scales of the

NRI (Furman & Buhrmester, 1985) to ascertain students’ perspectives of the levels of support

and conflict in their relationships with their teachers. Using data of 690 academically at-risk
TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS AND ACHIEVEMENT 10

students, pulled from the same source as Hughes, Luo, Kwok, and Loyd (2008), the authors

investigated the indirect and direct effects of child-reported teacher-student relationship quality

on child-rated academic competencies and standardized achievement scores, in later elementary

school years. Of the 690 students, 515 (74.6%) were in Grade 3 and 171 (24.8%) were in Grade

2 at year 1 of the study.

In addition to the completion of the NRI, children also rated their perceived math and

reading competencies using the Competence Beliefs and Subjective Task Values Questionnaire

(Wigfield et al., 1997). Furthermore, children were assessed annually on their reading and math

skills using subtests from the WJ-III (Woodcock, McGrew, & Mather, 2001). Researchers also

collected data on teacher-rated student behavioral engagement, child IQ in first grade, eligibility

for free or reduced price lunch and retention status.

Through their use of path analysis models, Hughes and colleagues (2012) found that

teacher-rated behavioral engagement and student-perceived reading and math competency

mediates the effects of students’ reports of teacher-student relationship quality on reading and

math achievement on the WJ-III. Specifically, the effect of student-perceived conflict at year 1,

which corresponded to either second or third grade, on math and reading achievement in year 3,

was mediated by teacher-perceived behavioral engagement in year 2. Additionally, student-

perceived conflict in year 1 had a second indirect effect on math achievement in year 3, via

student-perceived math competency.

For models concerning warmth, only one indirect effect was found between students’

reports of warmth and achievement. Warmth in year 1 indirectly impacted math achievement in

year 3 via student-rated math competency in year 2. Therefore, the indirect effects of conflict and

warmth, as measured by the NRI, were more consistent for math achievement than reading.
TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS AND ACHIEVEMENT 11

These results were observed after controlling for stability of measurements across time and the

covariates, that is, child IQ and family economic adversity.

Discussion and Implications

Studies over the past few decades have consistently shown an effect of teacher-student

relationship quality on teacher-perceived, student-perceived and standardized academic

achievement. Although significant associations have been observed, Roorda, Koomen, Split, and

Oort (2011) have shown, through a meta-analysis of 99 studies published or presented between

1990 and 2010, that associations between TSRQ and achievement typically range from small to

medium effects and that a stronger effect is found in higher grades. Additionally, they found

stronger associations between TSRQ and engagement, which is often found to mediate the

relationship between TSRQ and academic achievement. This finding mirrors that of the results of

the studies discussed in this literature review. One distinction that must be made and was not

discussed in the meta-analysis by Roorda and colleagues (2011) is the difference between using

teacher-perceived and student-perceived academic competency scores and using standardized

achievement scores as the primary measure of school adjustment.

The studies reviewed show that there tends to be more consistent findings of direct

impacts of TSRQ on achievement when the achievement score is a subjective measure that is

determined by teacher or student perceptions. This result is not surprising as these achievement

measures are likely affected by the number of prosocial events that occur in the classroom

between the teacher and his or her students. In other words, a language or literacy teacher might

rate a student as having a higher reading competency level if they experience net positive

interactions with that student and have high expectations for them. Therefore, utilizing

standardized achievement scores may allow researchers to strengthen their causal arguments and
TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS AND ACHIEVEMENT 12

not rely on the accuracy of teacher and student reports. Additionally, it may be beneficial to focus

on standardized measures as these are commonly used to determine one’s academic success and

knowledge when entering higher educational institutions.

While there are significant benefits to using standardized measures, there is the

possibility that these measures may not be truly reflective of a student’s ability. The Woodcock-

Johnson Test of Achievement and other standardized measures often do not align with a teacher’s

curriculum and frequently contain question formats that are unfamiliar to students. Therefore,

one must be cautious in their examination of the teacher-student relationship literature to avoid

overstating significant results.

We live in a society where the use of standardized achievement tests has skyrocketed

over the past couple decades. Failures in the education system or accountability measures

undertaken in schools across the country are often due to the results of performances on

standardized tests. Although many have strong negative views concerning these tests, they are

often used as criteria to define the standing of a student and/or a school, which can impact their

future outcomes. Therefore, it is important to consider investigating any variable that is shown to

impact student achievement. Teacher-student relationship quality in elementary schools is one

variable that is most particularly important due to its potential to impact varying forms of student

outcomes.

It is vital moving forward that further examinations are done as researchers develop

more reliable and valid standardized achievement measures. Additionally, it is necessary to place

more focus on possible mediating variables that act as the mechanism through which teacher-

student relationship quality positively and negatively impacts academic achievement. While

there needs to be a continuous focus on improving teacher-student relations in schools,

TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS AND ACHIEVEMENT 13

particularly in elementary schools where students tend to be more dependent on teachers, an

investigation of how these various mediating variables can be improved should be undertaken.

Although it appears that changing TSRQ will impact these mediating variables, there may be a

more effective method of changing them to foster academic achievement so that there is less

reliance on the relationship between teachers and students, which is highly dependent on other

factors to begin with.

TEACHER-STUDENT RELATIONSHIPS AND ACHIEVEMENT 14

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