The Influences of Classroom Characteristics and Teacher-Student Relations on Student Academic Achievement

Abstract

This study examines close teacher-student relations, classroom characteristics, and interaction effects on student academic grades and standardizes achievement scores. Classroom characteristics including teacher instructional practices, class mean teacher-student relationships, and a classroom index of academic risk are evaluated for their influence on student achievement. The participants are 24,328 students (kindergarten through fifth grade) nested within 946 classrooms from 45 public schools in Virginia. Multilevel analysis tests the student- and classroom-level associations separately for each grade level. Results indicate that close teacher-student relations and teacher self-reported use of good instructional practices predicts positive student academic achievement. Interaction results indicate that the association between close teacher-student relations and student achievement is slightly stronger in classrooms with more academic risk, according to the models examined.