The Power of the Student-teacher Connection: How Positive Relationships with Teachers Can Protectchildren-at-risk

There is much contention regarding how to improveacademic outcomes, particularly with the diversestudent body that populates our schools today. The NoChild Left Behind Act and the strong emphasis ontesting and standards have bypassed a crucialcomponent in this struggle. This book hypothesizesthat a supportive and intellectually challengingrelationship with a teacher is critical for studentsto succeed academically. How children learn will beexplored along with the constructs of attachment andresilience and this will provide the theoreticalgrounding. Data from the National Survey of Child andAdolescent Well Being (NSCAW) will be presented. Responses from students nationwide will be analyzedassessing if and how students? perceptions of theirteachers affect measures of school success. Thistopic has significant implications for both publiceducation and social work practice. Teachers providenot only information but an essential humanconnection. When this connection is caring andsupportive, children not only learn, but develop intoproductive participants in our transnational world.