Dispositions and Practices of Effective Teachers: Meeting the Needs of At-Risk Minority Students in China

Abstract This study examines the beliefs and practices of 22 teachers identified as highly effective in Yunnan Province, China, who work with students facing significant academic and social challenges. In many cases, the selected teachers work with students at the extreme end of the at-risk continuum, including students having multiple disadvantaged characteristics such as ethnic minority status and poverty. Specifically, this paper shares findings about how these teachers address their students’ needs in three domains—academic, affective, and technical needs. Descriptive data from classroom observations are presented. From the themes regarding teachers’ beliefs and practices that emerged from the qualitative data, the findings reveal that these teachers address students’ affective, academic and technical needs concurrently through their thoughtful instructional delivery and interactions with students. The teachers not only provide academic support (e.g., using a variety of instructional strategies communicating high expectations) to their students, but also offer socio-emotional support by being caring yet firm toward students and by soliciting technical support to create a safety net for the students’ well-being.