ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an overview of the teacher expectations literature and points to inherent flaws and oversights in the assumptions about teacher expectations that fail to consider the historical contexts of minoritized students. It also provides an overview of the critical awareness literature—a key prerequisite for asset-based practices (ABP). Although scholarship reflecting ABP is prominent in the teacher education literature, scholars have urged researchers to address the paucity of studies that explicitly link teachers' ABP beliefs and behaviors to student outcomes. When teachers had low levels of both expectations and critical awareness, student achievement was consistent with the self-fulfilling prophecy of lower achievement. The chapter describes the findings of the author’s first research question and focuses on why critical awareness is a necessary prerequisite to teacher expectations. It reviews the teacher effectiveness research and describes the findings of the author’s second research question. The chapter examines how teacher beliefs were related to various ABP teacher beliefs and behaviors.
