The differences between my children and my students: The expectations and efficacy of diverse urban teachers

This study seeks a better understanding of expectations and efficacy manifest in teachers' minds, especially those working with urban children, and how these expectations are reflected in teaching. It also investigates how personal beliefs of urban educators can perpetuate or interrupt the social reproduction of inequality inherent in our school systems. The method used in this study explores the differences in teachers' beliefs and expectations regarding urban children versus their own children.; Research questions: (1) How do teachers describe the differences between their own children and the children they teach? (2) How do teachers express the possibility of their own efficacy about educating or intervening with their students? (3) What differences exist regarding the beliefs of teachers who are of color and those who are not? (4) What differences exist regarding the beliefs of teachers who teach children of color and poverty and those who do not?; Twenty-eight teachers were interviewed representing different ethnic groups (teachers of color, transracial teachers and White teachers) and school settings (poor urban and upper middle class schools). After the transcription of taped interviews, analysis of the data was conducted using the grounded theory approach. Throughout data analysis, themes emerged reflecting teachers' beliefs and assumptions about their students. Teachers were categorized into two main groups: those with high expectations and teaching efficacy and those without.; Highlights of the study's findings include (1) over seventy percent of teachers had lower expectations for the children they taught than for their own children and also lacked a sense of efficacy; (2) teachers with low expectations and efficacy crossed all ethnicities and school socio-economic levels; (3) the group of transracial teachers had the highest efficacy; and (4) the majority of teachers with a sense of efficacy believed teaching was their “calling.” Recommendations were made for teacher selection, teacher education programs, and educators attempting reform measures aimed at increasing student achievement in urban schools.