A multilevel examination of the distribution and effects of teacher trust in students and parents in urban elementary schools

In this article we develop the theoretical argument that teacher trust in s tudents and parents is critical to school success. Next, using survey data collected on 452 teachers and data on achievement in reading and mathematic s and on socioeconomic status of 2,536 fourth-grade students in 47 urban el ementary schools, we show that trust varied greatly among the elementary sc hools and that this variation was strongly related to differences among sch ools in socioeconomic status. Finally, results of the study showed that eve n after accounting for variation among schools in student demographic chara cteristics, prior achievement, and school socioeconomic status, trust was a significant positive predictor of differences among schools in student ach ievement. We discuss the implications of these findings for improving acade mic achievement in elementary schools and for future research.