Accuracy of Teacher Reports of Their Classroom Behavior

This review was written to summarize what is known about the accuracy of teacher reports of their classroom behavior. The accuracy of such teacher reports is not a major topic of research, nor should it be. But it is a persistent question for those studying teaching. Locating studies on this topic was difficult. The topic is seldom studied directly, but usually emerges as a by-product of a larger question. Our organized ERIC search was not successful. However, as a result of our general reading on teaching, we found eleven studies; these eleven studies differed widely in grade level, subject, procedures used to obtain information from teachers, and procedures for observing and summarizing classroom events. The major characteristics of these studies are summarized in Table 1. The studies are grouped according to the three procedures used for grouping data: studies in which teacher reports of specific, single behaviors were correlated with single observed behaviors; studies in which items from teacher questionnaires or interviews and classroom observations were grouped into scales and dimensions such as individualizing and, studies in which teacher reports and observations were grouped along a stylistic continuum such as open to traditional. All teachers were experienced except for those in the study by Johnson (Note 1) who were student teachers. All studies took place in regular classrooms except for Johnson who used a microteaching setting.