The association between teacher-to-teacher relationships and student achievement: a meta-analysis

ABSTRACT

In this meta-analysis, we investigated the association between teacher-to-teacher relationships and student achievement. We specifically explicated (a) the association between a teacher’s individual relationship with other teachers and student achievement; (b) the association between teacher-to-teacher relationships at the organisational level (i.e. school or grade team) and student achievement; and (c) how three frequently used theoretical frameworks in studying teacher-to-teacher relationships – teacher network, teacher collaboration, and professional learning community (PLC), at either individual or organisational level – were associated with student achievement. Key findings included (a) teachers’ individual relationships were not associated with student achievement; (b) the relationships in schools or grade teams were significantly positively associated with student mathematics and reading achievement; and (c) at the organisational level, all three theoretical frameworks had small, positive associations with maths achievement (r = 0.191 for teacher collaboration, r = 0.202 for teacher network, r = 0.189 for PLC), but the positive associations with reading achievement decreased from teacher network (r = 0.290) to teacher collaboration (r = 0.163) and to PLC (r = 0.078). The implications of the findings are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Teacher-to-teacher relationships
• teacher collaboration
• teacher network
• professional learning community
• student achievement
• meta-analysis

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Yunzheng Zheng

Dr. Yunzheng Zheng is currently a postdoctoral research associate at Western Michigan University and will begin working at Shanghai Normal University soon. He received his Ph.D. degree in Educational Leadership from Western Michigan University in 2022. He has published 12 papers in professional journals and has other papers under review.

Jianping Shen

Dr. Jianping Shen is the John E. Sandberg Professor of Education and the Gwen Frostic Endowed Chair in Research Innovation in Department. of Educational Leadership, Research and Technology at Western Michigan University. He earned a Ph.D. in educational leadership and policy analysis from University of Washington. He has published more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles andseveral books.

Xin Li

Dr. Xin Li is an Assistant Professor and Specialization Lead of Early Childhood Education in Department of Curriculum and Instruction at University of Houston. She earned a Ph.D. in Education and Human Development from Western Michigan University. She has published several peer-reviewed journal articles and federal grant program evaluations reports.