| The purpose of this study was to investigate the extent to which teachers' philosophy about pedagogy was related to their rating of students' performance, and gains on the ITBS reading scores when controlling for demographic variables. The variable labeled teacher pedagogical philosophy was created using ideas from conservative, progressive and critical theory traditions. High scores on the teacher pedagogical philosophy scale indicated a more progressive, critical theory position.; A survey design was used to collect data on the selected variables. Eight middle schools were selected by systematic random sampling, and 302 teachers responded from these schools to an extensive questionnaire.; The Pearson correlations indicated that teachers who were more progressive tended to have higher expectations of students, perceived students being responsive to innovative teaching methods, rated students higher, and were in schools with ITBS gains. In the factor analysis, teacher pedagogical philosophy loads positively in the same factor with students' response to innovative teaching, teacher rating of students' performance, teacher expectation of students' performance and teacher estimation of students' ability. The stepwise multiple regression analyses showed that higher teacher rating of student performance was explained by lower free lunch status, higher scores on teacher pedagogical philosophy scale, higher teacher satisfaction, smaller class size, special education classes, and more progressive leadership. Based on these findings, it would appear that teachers who tend to have a progressive, critical theory philosophical position tend to perceive students as responding to innovative teaching practices, grade students higher, rate students' ability higher and have higher expectations for student performance. |
