Giving Compass' Take:

· Writing for Futurity, Cailin Riley-Missouri talks about a new report that highlights the importance of student bonds with teachers to build a trusting relationship and boost interest and performance in courses. 

· How can teachers form bonds with students? What other benefits do these relationships provide? 

· Here are a few ways to build strong student-teacher relationships.

A new study finds that when a teacher believes they have a positive association with a student, that student may be more likely to agree that they have a positive connection, as well as a higher interest and greater confidence in mathematics.

“While it might not be surprising that better student-teacher relations have benefits, it is interesting to see that both students and teachers generally agree on the state of their bond,” says Sara Prewett, a postdoctoral fellow in the College of Education at the University of Missouri.

“If a student and a teacher can both agree that they have room to build a better connection, then that’s an important first step in helping a student succeed.”

Prewett’s team investigated more than 330 middle school students’ relationships with their math teachers to discover how their interactions impacted their feelings about math. The researchers found that the more prosocial classroom behaviors and social-emotional support activities a teacher exhibited, the more likely a student was to believe their teacher supported them.

Read the full article about bonds with teachers by Cailin Riley-Missouri at Futurity.