PERSPECTIVES ON CARING IN THE CLASSROOM:DO THEY VARY ACCORDING

TO ETHNICITY OR GRADE LEVEL?

Tracey Garrett, Jason Barr, and Terri Rothman

ABSTRACT

Research shows that students can articulate a definition of caring and identifyspecific behaviors of caring teachers. Some of this research also indicates thatWhite students perceive caring differently from African American students.The purpose of this study was to examine what students from different culturalbackgrounds and different grade levels identify as the practices teachers use tocreate a caring classroom. Sixth- and ninth-grade students from an ethnicallydiverse urban middle and high school completed a qualitative questionnaireon their teachers' classroom practices. Results indicate, although there werelittle differences in the categories and themes that emerged across ethnicgroups and grade levels, when analyzing how the response percentages foreach category were distributed within ethnic group and across grade levels,several differences were apparent.

INTRODUCTION

For years, understanding of effective classroom management wasrooted in behavioral theories of teaching and learning. The primaryemphasis for classroom management in a behavioral model is the useof techniques that bring students' behavior under stimulus control(Brophy, 1999). These behavioral models encourage dependence on re-wards and penalties. In contrast, over the last decade, there has beena push to move beyond these behavioral-control approaches and imple-ment approaches that focus on relationships and developing a caringcommunity such as the Just Community (Power, Higgins, & Kohlbert,1989), the Child Development Project (Battistich, Watson, Solomon,Lewis, & Schaps, 1999) and the Moral Community (De Vries & Zan,1994). Advocates of these community-based approaches contend that

Tracey Garrett, Ed. D., Jason Barr, Ph.D. and Terri Rothman, Ph.D., Mon-mouth University.

Reprint requests sent to Tracey Garrett, Ed. D., Rider University, MemorialHall 102B, 2083 Lawrenceville Road, Lawrenceville, NJ 08648. Email: tgarret-t@rider.edu

ADOLESCENCE, Vol. 44, No. 175, Fall 2009Libra Publishers, Inc., 3089C Clairemont Dr., PMB 383, San Diego, CA 92117

building a caring classroom community and strong interpersonal rela-tionships can make all the difference hetween a functional and dys-functional classroom.

This shift toward approaches fopusing on caring relationships andcommunity is consistent with the research on students' perceptions of"good teachers." Over the years, research has affirmed that studentswho perceive their teachers as "good" teachers are more likely to en-gage in prosocial, responsible behavior, to adhere to classroom rulesand norms, and to engage in academic activities (Osterman, 2000;Wentzel, 1997). However, what exactly does it mean to be a "good"teacher?" According to Woolfolk-Hoy and Weinstein (2006), three fac-tors are central to students' perceptions of a "good" teacher: the abihtyto exercise authority without being overly rigid; the ability to makelearning fun; and, most importantly, the ability to establish positive,caring interpersonal relationships.

Studies repeatedly demonstrate the importance students place on ateacher's ability to develop effective interpersonal relationships withtheir students. For example, Battistich, Solomon, Watson, and Schaps(1997) found positive effects of a caring community on elementary stu-dents' attitudes and behaviors which included cooperativeness, help-fulness, concern for others, and altruism. Similarly, Davidson (1999)found that students preferred teachers who communicated interest intheir well-being and in return were more attentive and conscientiousduring class.

In addition, prosocial behavior appears to be fostered in studentsfrom such schools and classrooms in which a sense of a caring commu-nity has been achieved (Battistich, Solomon, & Watson, 1997). A senseof community stems from student behaviors that are influenced byteaching practices and classroom atmosphere. Teacher practices thatstimulate active student participation and teachers who model positiveinterpersonal behavior are critical to building a sense of communityamong school students (Battistich, Solomon, Kim, Watson, & Schaps,(1995).

The bottom line is that students want teachers who care about them.However, the difficulty lies in the question, what does it mean to care"?Research has shown that students can clearly articulate a definitionof caring and identify specific behaviors of caring teachers such as thewillingness to help with schoolwork, showing respect, treating stu-dents fairly, and helping with personal problems (Cothran & Ennis,2000; Cothran, Kulinna, & Garrahy, 2003; Osterman, 2000; Wentzel,1997). However, to complicate matters, some of this research also indi-

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cates that white students and high-achieving students identify differ-ent aspects of caring than African American students and low-achieving students.

White, mainstreamed and high-achieving students frequently citeaspects of academic caring whereas African American and low-achiev-ing students cite aspects of personal caring. For example, in a studyof 100 middle school students, Bosworth (1995) found that, amongstudents of color, the most frequently cited expression of a teacher'scare was the teacher's willingness to help with personal problems andto provide guidance. In contrast, for both males and females, for allgrade levels, and for white students, the teacher's willingness to pro-vide help with schoolwork was the most frequently cited sign of ateacher's care. Similarly, Cothran and Ennis (2000) interviewed 51urban high school students (89% African American and 11% non-Afri-can American) and found that students were more likely to engage inacademic activities when they felt that their teacher showed an inter-est in their personal lives.

Since research indicates that there are differences in the way AfricanAmerican and white students interpret caring behaviors in the class-room, it seems logical to speculate that other cultures or races mayalso identify different behaviors. Unfortunately, most of the researchthat examines the intersection between perceptions of caring and racefocuses on white and African American students. There is little re-search that examines if these beliefs hold true among other races andcultures. Therefore, the major purpose of this study was to explorethis idea and examine if the existing findings hold true for the Latinopopulation. In addition, the study examined whether students' percep-tions of caring differed across grade level. The specific research ques-tions were (1) What do students identify as the practices teachers useto create a caring classroom community? (2) Do students from differentcultural backgrounds identify different aspects of caring? (3) Do sixthand ninth graders identify different aspects of caring?

METHOD

SettingThis study was conducted in one large, ethnically diverse, urban,

central New Jersey public school district consisting of three elementaryschools, one middle school (grades 6-8), and one high school (grades9-12). The district is classified as an Abbott district, which means theymeet specific criteria, including (1) having low socioeconomic status

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according to the New Jersey Department of Education, (2) having evi-dence of substantive failure of thorough and efficient education, (3)having a large percentage of disadvantaged students who need "aneducation beyond the norm," and (4) having an existence of an "exces-sive tax for municipal services" in the locality of the district.

ParticipantsSixty sixth-grade students (24 African American, 23 Latino, 13 Cau-

casian), and 95 ninth-grade students (22 African American, 46 Latino,27 Caucasian) participated. While all sixth- and ninth-grade studentswere asked to participate, 95 of the 281 ninth-grade students (34%response rate), and 60 of the 321 sixth-grade students (18.7% responserate) returned signed parental informed consent forms for a total sam-ple of 155 students. Although research supports the view that caringrelationships are important at all grade levels, this population wasselected because teacher-student relationships are of the utmost im-portance at crucial points such as the transition from elementary tomiddle school and middle to high school (Wentzel, 1998).

Data CollectionAll participants responded to a qualitative questionnaire that was

created by the researchers and consisted of two open-ended questionsabout their teachers' classroom practices including:

Think about your favorite teacher who shows that he or she is a caringteacher. What does that teacher do to show you that he/she caresabout you?

Does that teacher care about students? What does he/she do to showthat he/she cares about students? Explain why you think that teachercares about all students in the classroom.

The researchers attended all 6th and 9th grade physical educationclasses, which are mandatory for all students, to provide an overviewof the study and distribute personal consent forms. To increase thelikelihood of participation, students were also informed that five raffleawards ($10 gift certificates to Barnes and Noble) would be drawn fromamong the returned parental consent forms. Reminders were madeevery day during the morning announcements for a two-week period.Two weeks later, the researcher returned and administered the ques-tionnaire to all eligible students.

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Data AnalysisTo examine students' perceptions of caring, a recursive analysis in-

vestigated underlying themes in the data (Nastasi, 1998). Responsesto the open-ended questions are descriptively coded separately acrossethnic groups and grade levels by two independent researchers. Duringthe initial stages of data analysis, six codes emerged. Once the tworesearchers reached consensus, the data were given to a third re-searcher for reliability purposes. The three coders agreed on the finalset of codes, which included tbe top five codes from tbe initial stage(see Table 1) with inter-coder reliability establisbed at > .90.

Table 1

Definitions of Codes

Code Definitions

Academic support Informs students how they are doing or what they need todo to succeed or improveMonitors/stays on top of student progressStudents learn a great dealPushes students to do wellWants students to pass/ makes sure students passUses good teaching methodsModels caring about school/education

The teacher spersonality

Taking a personalinterest in the student

Equity

Use of rewards

• Nice person, friendly, respectfiil, cool, laid back, patient.easy to talk to

• Offers compliments• Is a friend• Sensitive to student's moods• Has a fun classroom• Doesn't yell

• Asks personal questions about the student• Listens to the student's problems and offers advice• Pays attention to the student• Asks about their day or about other classes

• Teacher treats everyone the same• Holds high expectations for all students and expects all

students to pass• Gives the same amount of support and respect to all

students

• Teacher used tangible incentives

Note. The code "Doesn't give too much homework" was dropped due to the infrequent times itwas cited.

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After the coding manual was finalized, all responses were codedagain, and frequencies were calculated to represent the number ofparticipants who mentioned each category (see Tables 2-4).

Next, data were analyzed across grade level (see Table 5) and ethnicgroup (see Table 6). Finally, the categories were rank ordered, basedon the percentage of participants who mentioned that category, acrossgrade level and ethnic groups, and since the rank order implies thesalience of each category, the rank ordered lists were then comparedfor similarities and differences.

RESULTS

Comparisons Across GradesOne purpose of this study was to compare grade-level differences in

students' perceptions of how teachers demonstrate that they care about

Table 2

White Perceptions of Caring

6*" Grade Grade

(n=13) (n = 27)

Codes Frequency % Frequency %

Academic Support

The Teacher'sPersonality

Taking a personalinterest in the student

46.2

53.8

46.2

15

15

10

55.6

55.6

37.0

Equity

Uses Rewards

7.7

15.4

29.7

7.4

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Table 3

Latino Perceptions of Caring

Grade

(n = 23)

Grade

(n = 46)

Codes Frequency % Frequency %

Academic Support

The Teacher'sPersonality

Taking a personalinterest in the student

Equity

Uses Rewards

10 43.5 40

15 65.2

21.7

30.4

21.7

11

87.0

23.9

15.2

13.0

4.3

students. Rank-order comparisons, from the most frequent to the least;frequent response, revealed very little change from 6th to 9th grade(see Table 5). Across grade levels, aspects of both academic supportand the teacher's personality were the most frequent student re-sponses. For 6th graders, the teacher's personality was more promi-nently mentioned, whereas in 9th grade, the teacher's personality wasthe second most frequent response, and academic support became themost frequently cited category. Another similarity across grade levelswas the identification of teachers taking a personal interest in stu-dents, which was the third most frequent response in both grades.

Similarities also emerged for the final two categories: use of rewardsand equity. Use of rewards was the fourth most frequent responseamong sixth graders (equity was ranked fifth), whereas in 9th grade,equity was ranked fourth, and the use of rewards was ranked fifth.

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Table 4

African-American Perceptions of Caring

6"" Grade

(n = 24)

Grade

(n = 22)

Codes

Academic Support

The Teacher'sPersonality

Taking a personalinterest in the student

Equity

Uses Rewards

Frequency % Frequency %

13 50.0 20 90.9

14

0

53.8

34.6

0.0

19.2

8

0

36.4

13.6

18.2

0.0

It would appear that the true differences do not lie in rank order ofthe responses but rather how the response percentages are distributedwithin each grade. The percentage of students reporting academic sup-port greatly increased from 6th to 9th grade and was the most frequentresponse in the 9th grade, significantly more than any other response.This is in contrast to the teacher's personality, which decreased greatlyfrom 6th to 9th grade.

Frequent 6th grade responses illustrating the importance of variousaspects of a teacher's personality were ". . . they laugh at your jokesand have a good sense of humor . . . I think my teacher cares about allof us because she is always nice to us and she is fun" and ". . . she isa caring teacher because she doesn't yell all the time . . . " This is con-trasted with typical 9th grade responses, which focused on academicsupport: "He takes his time and makes sure we know what we are

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Table 5

Grade Level Differences in Perceptions of Caring

Grade

(n = 60)

9'" Grade

(n = 95)

Codes

Academic Support

The Teacher'sPersonality

Taking a personalinterest in the student

Equity

Uses Rewards

Frequency % Frequency %

29 48.3 65 68.4

36

20

12

60.0

33.3

13.3

20.0

34

20

18

35.8

21.1

18.9

4.2

doing before moving on to the next topic" or ". . . she takes time out ofher schedule to allow me to stay after school." However, although theteacher's personality remained a frequent response in the 9th grade,it was often coupled with academic support. For example "My teachermakes things clear when she teaches them. She is not hard on us andtreats us like regular people" and "She makes sure I get the subjectand knows what I get and didn't get. Also, she isn't too strict. . . sheis laid back."

The only other category to increase from 6th to 9th grade was teach-ers' equitable treatment of students, but this increase was not as largeas the increase in academic support. Some responses illustrating theimportance of equitable treatment at the sixth-grade level were". . . this teacher does care about all students because she doesn't givewarnings and detention to a few, she gives it to everyone when they

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Table 6

Ethnic Differences in Perceptions of Caring

Codes

AcademicSupport

TheTeacher'sPersonality

Taking apersonalinterest inthe student

Equity

UsesRewards

Caucasian

(n = 40)

Frequency

21

22

16

9

4

%

52.5

55.0

40.0

22.5

10.0

Latino

(n = 69)

Frequency

50

26

12

13

7

%

72.5

37.7

17.4

18.8

10.1

African-American

(n = 46)

Frequency

33

22

12

4

5

%

71.2

47.8

26.1

8.7

10.9

misbehave" and "The teacher cares about everyone because she treatsthem equally." There were similar and more frequent responses inninth grade such as "He shows the same amount of respect and nevertreats anyone different" or "The teacher treats all the students thesame way no matter what."

The frequency of students who reported that teachers who take apersonal interest in the student demonstrate caring, decreased from6th to 9th grade. At the sixth-grade level, frequent responses weresimilar to this quote: "My favorite teacher shows that she cares ahoutme because she always checks on me and makes sure I am OK evenin my personal life." However, these responses were not as common atthe ninth grade level.

The use of rewards also dropped significantly from 6th to 9th grade.At the sixth-grade level, this seemed to be quite an important sign of

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teacher caring with many responses such as . . . . "The teacher showshow she cares by . . . giving us rewards when we are good," and "if weare good she would give us candy" and "She'd give us treats and let usgo outside." Interestingly, this category was almost nonexistent at theninth-grade level.

Comparisons Across Ethnic GroupsAnother purpose of this study was to determine if students' percep-

tions of caring vary across ethnic groups. When examining the rankordering across ethnic groups, we detected very few differences in stu-dents' perceptions of caring teacher behavior. All groups most fre-quently identified aspects of academic support and the teacher'spersonality as indicators that teachers care about students (see Ta-ble 6).

Many responses illustrated the importance of academic support. Forexample, one student stated, "Mrs. G. was a really caring teach-e r . . . when you get bad grades, she makes us stay and complete ourwork and get good grades. This teacher cares, because when studentsare needing help, she goes up to them and helps them" (male Latinosixth grader). Another student responded, "The teacher shows that shecares about me, because she will put the material that needs to belearned into a way that we will understand it, and she has time tolisten to our problems and tries her best to help solve them." (female,sixth grader, Caucasian).

Similarly, many students commented on the importance of differentfacets ofa teacher's personality as a sign of caring.This was illustratedin the following statements: "To show that they care about me, theylaugh at your jokes and have a good sense of humor" (sixth-gradefemale, Caucasian).

". . . He jokes around with kids. He never suspends kids, and he's anice guy. He even helps other teachers. He is kind to all students. Hesaves them from being in trouble. He's a sweet guy" (sixth-grade fe-male, African American).

". . . She was the best, because she was fun, made me laugh, shegave us food and her class was easy" (ninth grade male. Latino).

Although the rank order of categories across ethic groups suggestsmany similarities, further examination of the percentages of partici-pants who mentioned each category provides a different picture. Forexample, similar numbers of Caucasian students mentioned aspects ofacademic support {n = 21) and the teacher's personality (ra = 22) ascaring behaviors. However, for Latino students, academic support (ra= 50) was mentioned nearly twice as many times as the teacher'spersonality (ra = 26). Furthermore, 40% of Caucasians also noted that

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a teacher taking a personal interest in a student demonstrates caringbehavior, whereas only 17% of Latinos mentioned this factor. Finally,African American students were the least likely to mention that teach-ers demonstrate that they care by exhibiting equitable treatment ofstudents.

More specific comparisons illustrated in Tables 2 ^ suggest that eth-nic differences are more pronounced in ninth grade and that studentsof color experience more dramatic changes in their perceptions of car-ing. For example, 87% of Latino, over 90% of African American ninthgraders cited aspects of academic support as indicators that teacherscare; this substantially contrasts with ninth-grade Caucasian stu-dents' perspectives (55.6%). Moreover, when looking at changes fromsixth to ninth grade, Caucasian students' salient perceptions of behav-iors that indicate caring changed little in the areas of academic sup-port, the teacher's personality, and the teachers taking a personalinterest in the student. Among Latino students, one the other hand,academic support increased and the teacher's personality decreasedsubstantially as salient categories. In addition, African American stu-dents showed the sharpest decline across grade levels in their percep-tions that teachers taking a personal interest in studentsdemonstrated caring behavior.

Finally, Tables 2 ^ also demonstrate that ninth-grade Latino stu-dents were less likely to mention aspects of equity, whereas sixth-grade Latino students noted issues of equity far more likely than didAfrican American and Caucasian students.

DISCUSSION

The results of this study indicate some similarities to past research(Cothran & Ennis, 2000; Cothran et al., 2003; Wentzel, 1997) in whichstudents identified the following caring teacher behaviors: willingnessto help with homework, showing respect, treating students fairly, andhelping students with personal problems. These behaviors mirror thecategories we found in the present study: academic support, teacher'spersonality, equity, and taking a personal interest in students.

Although the results of our study parallel some of the findings frompast research on students' perceptions of caring teacher behavior asnoted above, when we compared across ethnic groups and grade levels,some of our data contrast with prior research.

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Grade LevelWhen student responses were rank ordered, there was no striking

change in the rank ordering of any response from 6th to 9th grade.Therefore, the most important variables to the students in 6th graderemained the most important in 9th grade, and the least importantvariables to the students in 6th grade remained the least importantin 9th grade.

How the responses were distributed within each grade was thencompared. The percentage of students reporting academic supportgreatly increased from 6th to 9th grade and was the most frequentresponse in 9th grade, significantly more than any other response. Theonly other variable to increase from 6th to 9th grade was teachers'equitable treatment of students but this increase was not as large asthe increase in academic support. However, the increase in both ofthese variables could be related to one another. For adolescents, schoolbecomes a place to get good grades and succeed in their chosen careerpath. Therefore, academic support would become the most importantaspect of a student's perception of their teachers. However, it wouldalso seem reasonable to believe that teachers who demonstrated favor-itism toward certain students, would not be perceived as academicallysupportive to the entire school population.

Although the teacher's personality decreased from the 6th to 9thgrade, it still remained the second most frequent response for ninthgraders showing that, while academic support became the most im-portant aspect of teacher caring to students, a teacher's personalitystill had a strong inñuence over students' perception of their teacherscaring for them. Teachers, who make the learning process more fun,more interesting, and less stressful, could be perceived as more caring.Probably, teachers who are more creative, active, or provide morehands-on activities, could be perceived by the students as more caringsince it shows the teacher's energy and effort in helping students learnthe material as opposed to a teacher who simply lectures, which could.be perceived by students as putting in little effort to help them learnthe material.

Teachers taking a personal interest in the students decreased from6th to 9th grade. By the 9th grade, most students have a well-estab-lished peer social support system. They have greater social resourcesto help them in times of need and may be trjàng to gain more autonomyfrom adults in dealing with their problems. The problems of adoles-cents could also involve sensitive and personal subjects such as sexualbehavior and drug and alcohol use. Such behavior may not be topicsof discussion that adolescent would readily choose to engage in with

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teachers or other adults. Also, as children get older, they may begin toview school as a means to an end, rather than a fun atmosphere. There-fore, teachers may be seen by adolescents as the person who helpsthem academically rather than socially or personally. Hence, anotherreason why academic support became the most frequent response ofthe 9th graders.

The use of rewards dropped significantly from 6th to 9th grade. Asstudents get older, the only tangible reward they may be interestedin is grades since high grades determine academic promotion, collegeacceptance, and scholarship and financial aid awards. Such outcomesare not of as much importance to 6th-grade students; therefore, gainingtangible rewards in the 6th grade might be of more importance becauseit may make class more fun for the students and would be a sign ofdoing well in .school, academically and socially. This could be anotherreason why academic support had the highest frequency of responsesin the 9th grade.

Ethic GroupsBosworth's (1995) research states that students of color most fre-

quently cited teachers' willingness to help students with their personalproblems as evidence of caring. Our study, however, contradicts thesefindings, as both Latino and African American groups most frequentlymentioned aspects of teachers' academic support as evidence of caringbehavior. As a matter of fact. Latino students identified behaviors per-taining to academic support more than four times as often as theymentioned teachers taking a personal interest in students. In addition,71% of African American students identified academic support issues,whereas only 27% identified teachers taking a personal interest instudents as an indicator that they care.

These findings suggest that Latino and African American studentsperceive the need for academic support as important, whereas a teach-er's personality is less important in showing that the teacher caresabout students. Taking a personal interest in students does not seemto be a significant factor in promoting a sense of community for Latinoor African American students.

In addition, both African American and Latino students were lesslikely than Caucasian students to note aspects of the teacher's person-ality and taking a personal interest in students as caring behaviors,and these differences appear to be most striking for the Latino stu-dents. Furthermore, Caucasian students were less likely than theother two groups to mention aspects of academic support, which contra-dicts conclusions of Bosworth (1995).

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Many factors may contribute to these differences. First, the teachingpopulation is predominantly Caucasian and some beliefs may bestrongly influenced by this cultural match or mismatch. In addition,Caucasian students have higher rates of academic success than minor-ity students (National Center for Education Statistics, 2006); there-fore, perhaps fewer of them perceive the need for academic support asimportant. In contrast. Latino students, many for whom their nativelanguage is not English, may need more academic support from teach-ers if their families cannot read or write English.

Latino students in our study were less likely than the other groupsto identify teachers taking a personal interest in students as evidenceof caring behavior. The community in which this study took place hasa large number of illegal aliens, and many ofthe students who partici-pated in this study are English language learners. Therefore, one po-tential reason for this difference is that perhaps Latino studentsattempt to maintain distance between themselves and school person-nel because they may need to hide information about their familystatus.

In a past study (Smith-Adcock, Daniels, Lee, Villalba, & Indelicate,2006), public school administrators recognized the cultural barriersfor Hispanic/Latino children and families. They perceived that thesebarriers were related to trouble negotiating the school culture, lan-guage barriers, and isolation from the school environment, and thusrecommended an increase in Spanish-speaking personnel to promotemore positive relationships between students and school personnel.

In the Cothran and Ennis (2000) study, urban high school studentsnoted that teachers who treat students fairly demonstrate that theycare about students. This factor (equity) also emerged in our study.However, African American students less frequently (8.7%) identifiedissues of equity than Caucasian (22.5%) and Latino students (18.8%).It is unclear whether these differences are due to the different levelsof importance that students place on issues of equity or if AfricanAmerican students do not perceive that teachers treat students equita-bly. Thus, future research should investigate this further.

CONCLUSION

Viewing the building of a community as the foundation of a teacher'sclassroom management plan represents a shift in thinking from tradi-tional behavioral models focused on teacher control to models that

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promote strong interpersonal relationships. These approaches are con-sistent with research on student's perceptions of "good teachers," whichclearly demonstrate that one of thé most important aspects of being a"good teacher" is the ability to develop caring relationships. However,the issue of what it means to care is complicated and one that is furthercomplicated by issues of culture and grade levels as demonstrated inthis study. Although this study does not provide definitive answers towhat students in different grade levels and ethnic groups view asteacher caring, it does provide insight into the variety of strategiesteachers can use to demonstrate care. Therefore, the results of thisstudy can help preservice and inservice teachers understand the im-portant role that teacher caring plays in one's overall classroom man-agement plan and, more importantly, help them gain an awareness ofthe concrete strategies that they can incorporate into their practice tohelp their students feel that their teachers care about them.

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