Skip to Content
Visible Learning™
Visible Learning MetaX™
Version 1.4 – Updated February 2026

Teacher-student relationships

Overview

  • Influence: Teacher-student relationships
  • Domain: Classroom
  • Sub-Domain: Classroom climate
  • Potential to Accelerate Student Achievement: Potential to accelerate
  • Influence Definition: The quality of the relationship between the teacher and student, and in many cases also the relationships, or lack thereof, developed by the teacher between the students.

Evidence

  • Number of meta-analyses: 8
  • Number of studies: 789
  • Number of students: 7,107,506
  • Number of effects: 1,980
  • Weighted mean effect size: 0.58
  • Robustness index: 5

Meta-Analyses

Meta-Analyses
Journal Title Author Article Name Year Published Variable Number of Studies Number of Students Number of Effects Effect Size
Review of Educational Research Cornelius-White Learner-Centered Teacher-Student Relationships Are Effective: A Meta-Analysis 2007 Teacher-student relations on achievement 229 355,325 1,450 0.72
Review of Educational Research Roorda, Koomen, Spilt & Oort The Influence of Affective Teacher-Student Relationships on Students' School Engagement and Achievement: A Meta-Analytic Approach 2011 Teacher-student relations on achievement 99 165,926 168 0.53
Review of Educational Research Vandenbroucke, Spilt, Verschueren, Piccinin, & Baeyens The classroom as a developmental context for cognitive development: A meta-analysis on the importance of teacher–student interactions for children's executive functions 2018 Teacher-student interactions on Executive functioning 23 19,906 23 0.18
Review of Educational Research Kincade, Cook, & Goerdt Meta-analysis and common practice elements of universal approaches to improving student-teacher relationships 2020 Teacher-student programs on achievement 21 NA 21 0.26
Global Studies Wang & Dong Meta-analysis of the impact of teacher-student relationship pattern on students' academic achievement. 2017 Teacher-student relations on achievement 56 47,694 56 0.65
Report Emslander, Holzberger, Ofstad, Fischbach, Scherer Teacher-Student Relationships and Student Outcomes: A Systematic Review of Meta-Analyses and Second-Order Meta-Analysis. 2023 Teacher-student relations on achievement 231 6,237,000 116 0.50
School Psychology International Lei, Wang, Chiu, Du, & Xie Teacher-student relationship and academic achievement in China. 2022 Teacher-student relations on achievement 74 233,961 90 0.54
Global Studies Mo Meta-analysis of the impact of teacher-student relationship pattern on students' academic achievement. 2017 Teacher-student relations on achievement 56 47,694 56 0.65
TOTAL/AVERAGE 789 7,107,506 1,980 0.50
Back to top