Rich parents prefer teachers who make children happy

New York, Dec 8 (UNI) Choosing an excellent education system, with best teacher for their child is every parent's dream.

A new study has, however, suggested that rich parents are more concerned about their child's happiness and are likely to choose teachers who receive high student satisfaction ratings than those with strong achievement ratings.

Families in higher poverty schools, however, valued student achievement and appeared indifferent to the principal's report of a teacher's ability to promote student satisfaction.

Factors such as family poverty can influence what parents are looking for in a school, Brian Jacob, the study's co-author said, adding, ''While all parents presumably want what is best for their children, this can mean very different things depending on the school and neighborhood context.'' Within a school, there were no differences between more and less advantaged parents who requested a teacher in terms of the value the parents placed on student satisfaction versus student achievement.

The findings appearing in the new issue of the Quarterly Journal of Economics were consistent with a model in which high and low-income parents had similar preferences for student outcomes, but face constraints that were correlated with school demographics.

Academic resources are typically more limited in higher-poverty schools. Such schools generally have more disruptive peers, lower academic expectations, fewer financial resources and less experiencd teachers. Parents in these schools may seek teachers skilled at improving achievement even if it means sacrificing student satisfaction, the researchers said.

In higher-income schools, where academic resources are more abundant, a teacher's focus on academic achievement may be less valuable than his or her ability to help students enjoy school and learning.

UNI