High Expectations Are a Plan, Not a Feeling
"Have high expectations" is advice every teacher hears in their first week. It is true, and it is incomplete. An expectation that lives only in the teacher's head does very little.
What the research actually says
The popular version of the Pygmalion story is that if you believe in students, they rise. The research is more careful. In their 2005 review, Lee Jussim and Kent Harber concluded that self-fulfilling prophecies in classrooms "do occur, but these effects are typically small," that they tend to dissipate rather than build over time, and that teacher expectations often predict student outcomes mainly because they are accurate.
One finding cuts the other way and matters a lot: the same review notes that powerful expectation effects may occur selectively among students from stigmatized groups. For those students, what adults expect can matter more.
So belief helps, but mostly as the starting point for how you teach.
Turn the expectation into structure
High expectations show up in what you ask for and what you accept:
- The task is worth doing. Real reading, real writing, real problems. Not a simplified version because you assume they can't.
- The standard is visible. Students see a strong example and the rubric before they start.
- Revision is normal. "Not yet" is a normal answer, with a date to try again.
- Support is built in. Scaffolds, check-ins and small-group help are how you make a high bar reachable, not a sign you lowered it.
Warmth and demand travel together. A teacher who says "this isn't your best work, and I'll help you get there by Friday" is holding a high expectation. A teacher who says "that's fine" to work both of them know is rushed is not being kind.
Watch who gets the push
The easiest place for expectations to slip is quietly, student by student. Who do you call on for the hard question? Whose rough draft gets detailed feedback and whose gets a checkmark? Looking at your own patterns for a week is uncomfortable and useful.
For a longer look at high expectations for students and how to hold them fairly, including what to do when a student doesn't meet the bar, start there.
Sources
- Jussim, L., & Harber, K. D. (2005). Teacher expectations and self-fulfilling prophecies: Knowns and unknowns, resolved and unresolved controversies. Personality and Social Psychology Review, 9(2), 131–155 (abstract via PubMed): https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15869379/
Clay Shumate is a certified secondary Social Studies teacher in the public schools of West Alabama, with seven years of classroom experience, a B.A. in History, and an M.Ed. in Secondary Education. He writes about project-based learning, student responsibility, respect, and practical ways to hold young people to a higher standard while giving them room to learn from mistakes.