Teachers' Expectations

Influence of the ‘Learning Disability’ label on teachers' performance expectations — A matter of attitudes towards inclusion?

In our study of 429 special and regular education teachers, we examined the impact of a 'Learning Disability' (LD) label on teachers' performance expectations. Teachers exposed to the LD label had lower expectations for the student's academic achievement. Special education teachers showed lower expectations overall, but positive attitudes towards inclusion appeared to mitigate some negative effects of the LD label.

Does the 'Learning Disability' label lower teachers’ performance expectations?

We investigated the influence of the learning disability label on performance expectations among prospective teachers in Germany. Using an experimental design with 276 participants, they read a description of a student with academic problems, with only the experimental group having the student labeled as having a learning disability. Results revealed no significant main effect of the learning disability label, but prospective special education teachers had partially lower performance expectations than regular education teachers.