The "Miss A" Study
March 04, 2008
As headmaster of a JK – 8th grade school, I often find myself in conversations about the relative value or importance of elementary education. There is a growing body of research pointing to the importance of developing an attitude inclined toward learning early in life, and the lasting effects of such attitudes (see “Lasting Effects of Elementary School”, D. Entwisle and L. Hayduk. Sociology of Education, Vol.61, No.3, July 1988). My favorite study is one carried out by Dr. Egil Pedersen of McGill University. Published in the Harvard Educational Review, Vol.48, No.1, February 1978 under the title “A New Perspective on the Effects of First-Grade Teachers on Children’s Subsequent Adult Status”, this article is now known among educators as the “Miss A” study. The study, done over time, was atypical in that the direction of the study was influenced by three unexpected findings: (1) the discovery of a regular pattern of IQ change, (2) the discovery that IQ change as measured from grade 3 to grade 6 varied by first grade teacher and by the gender of the student, and (3) the discovery of a relationship between first-grade teachers and adult status.
There were three permanently employed first grade teachers in the school where the study took place. They were presented in the research paper as Miss A, Miss B, and Miss C. An initial analysis showed that Misses A and B taught a high proportion of the pupils who showed and increase in IQ score. Miss C taught a high proportion of pupils who showed a decrease in IQ. Further analysis showed that it made no difference whether Miss A’s students were male or female. Both males and females were equally likely to show an increase in IQ score. Likewise, it made no difference if Miss C’s students were male or female. Students of either gender were equally likely to show a decrease in IQ score. With Miss B, however, female students were more likely to show an increase in IQ, and male students a decrease in IQ. Interestingly, further inquiry seemed to indicate that Miss B had different expectations of boys and girls as she seated girls in the front row and relegated boys to the back rows of her classroom.
In the second phase of the study the researchers located and interviewed 60 adults who had attended the classrooms of Misses A, B, and C as children to compare their current life with their elementary school records. Here the data revealed the amazing fact that while only 29% of the other teachers’ former students currently fell into what the researchers described as “high adult status,” 64% of the Miss A’s students fell into “high adult status” and 0% fell into “low adult status.”
Finally, in looking at the interview data, the researchers discovered that the adults had difficulty remembering who their first-grade teachers were. For the adults whose first grade teachers were other than Miss A, fewer than half identified their teacher correctly. But every single adult who had been a student of Miss A remembered her correctly.
Miss A could not be interviewed at the time of the study because she was in the final stages of a terminal illness. However, interviews with her former pupils reveal some of her qualities as a person and teacher. She never lost her temper and showed obvious affection for all her students. She gave extra hours to pupils who were slow learners. She believed every student could learn. One of her former pupils commented, “it did not matter what background or abilities the beginning pupil had; there was no way that pupil was not going to read by the end of first grade.” Her secret for success was summarized by a former colleague with these words: “How did she teach? With a lot of love!”
I have always believed that the best investment one can make is in the education of one’s child. The “Miss A” study shows that the dividends of an early investment in elementary education can compound and pay off throughout one’s lifetime. It is important for us to find the current and future “Miss A’s”, and make sure that we have the processes and environments in our schools that allow them to be and to become the wonderful teachers that they are.