"She loves art, babies, and flowers, so you know she's kind": What makes a good teacher from an elementary perspective

Identifying good teaching is a complex task (Trammell & Aldrich, 2016). Many schools and districts use observation and evaluation tools, such as Charlotte Danielson’s Framework for Teaching, to identify and assess teachers’ performances. However, these observation tools often miss a critical, culturally relevant perspective (Ladson-Billings, 1995) and do not always consider the dynamic intersectional influence of teachers’ and students’ identities in terms of race, culture, gender, language, and other characteristics. Moreover, our evaluation process is missing a critical voice: students, particularly elementary students, are not often asked what makes a good teacher from their perspective. This overlooked student perspective can offer valuable insights into what students believe makes a good teacher and what constitutes a culturally relevant and responsive teacher from their perspective.The purpose of the present study is to amplify the perspectives of students on this topic by answering the following research question:How do elementary students describe a good teacher?a. How do student responses relate to our understanding of culturally responsive pedagogy? b. How do student responses relate to components of what’s recognized as good teaching, such as planning, instruction, classroom environment, and professional development? The study is set in two Title I elementary schools in New Jersey. This study draws on qualitative research (Patton, 2002) and utilizes an arts-based methodology (Blaisdell et al., 2019; Cologon et al., 2019; Clough & Nutbrown, 2019; Kramer, 2022; DeMartino & Weiser, 2025; Shin & Alpert, 2024) to explore the meaning-making process of what constitutes a good teacher from the perspective of elementary-aged students. Twenty-eight students participated in the study. The first phase of this study began by collecting student drawings of a good teacher from the students’ perspectives, as drawing is a familiar way for young children to express themselves (Angell et al., 2014). These drawings served as the catalyst for the second phase of this study, which involves one-on-one interviews. Students were interviewed on what makes a good teacher and what makes a good classroom experience. The data was analyzed to gain insights into what elementary-aged students recognize as good teaching. Findings revealed that students desire teachers who are kind, encouraging, and compassionate, and do not want teachers who are unkind, unfair, and don’t genuinely know their students. In many of their drawings, students also expressed a preference for teachers who share their racial backgrounds, highlighting their need for culturally responsive pedagogy. These findings will help educators, administrators, and policymakers consider students’ voices when defining good teaching and when evaluating whether teachers display the qualities students mention.