A New Perspective on the Effects of First-Grade Teachers on Children's Subsequent Adult Status

Abstract

In this article Eigil Pedersen, Thérèse Annette Faucher, and William W. Eaton have taken on one of the most difficult questions in educational research: the impact of the classroom teacher on children's adult status. The authors detail the results of a research project of unconventional methodology and Unusually long duration. They sought originally to examine atypical IQ changes but came to focus on the enduring effects of one remarkable first-grade teacher. Drawing upon the idea of the "self-fulfilling prophecy," the authors relate the effects of teachers' attitudes and resultant behavior to the subsequent adult status of sixty children. Their conclusion,in contrast to that of many recent studies, is that the classroom teacher may have a significant effect on children's chances for success in later life.