Patterns of teachers' whole-class perceptions and predictive relationshipsbetween teachers' and parents' perceptions of individual child competence

The stratification or dispersion of first grade teachers' perceptions of ch ildren's competence was evaluated as a moderator of the predictive relation ship between teachers' and parents' perceptions of individual children's co mpetence. Classroom stratification of teachers' perceptions about child int elligence and about child social difficulties was measured by the dispersio n of teacher's ratings of individual children in their class (N-classrooms= 60; N-children=1240). The stratification of teachers' perceptions was found to be stable across the year. Greater stratification predicted teachers' p erceptions of less child competence and also predicted less change in teach ers' perceptions of individual children over the school year. There was no evidence that teachers who tended to see more stratification among child in telligence were more accurate in their perceptions. In linking teachers' pe rceptions to parents' perceptions, fathers' perceptions of children's socia l difficulties became more congruent with teachers' perceptions across firs t grade if children were in high- but not low-stratified classrooms. Implic ations of this parent- and domain-specific relationship are discussed.