Pygmalion Effect for Teachers and Students

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The Pygmalion effect links expectations placed upon people with their performance. The higher the expectations, the better they perform.

The Center for American Progress recently conducted a study on teachers and the expectations for their students. The study found that teachers don’t always have high expectations for all students, especially ones of color or those who are poor. The achievement of these students, therefore, may be influenced by the teacher’s low expectations.

A study by the National Center for Education Statistics showed that students whose teachers had high expectations for them graduated from college at three times the rate of the students whose teachers had low expectations.

Teacher expectations have been very predictive of a student’s success. It was found that teachers can predict the success with more accuracy than parents or the students themselves.

One of the nonprofits on our slate, Teach Plus: T3 Initiative, is a program that recruits, develops and supports effective, experienced teachers to serve as teacher leaders in low-performing schools. The “T3” stands for Turnaround Teacher Teams. These teachers can really make a difference by going in and having high expectations for all students, regardless of demographics.

SheGives connects committed, inquisitive, engaged donors with a slate of diligenced nonprofits in the Greater Boston area. We provide members with relevant data about the nonprofits in our portfolio and an opportunity to meet directly with our nonprofits’ Executive Directors and senior staff in small settings that promote in-depth q&a’s and, ultimately, informed giving. Giving is personally driven, but because we give side-by-side our collective impact is greater. See a list of the vetted nonprofits selected for our slate here.