Once a student's academic needs have been met, parents want teachers who will keep their students satisfied and excited to learn, according to a new study.

The study by Brigham Young University economics professor Lars Lefgren and University of Michigan professor of education policy and economics Brian Jacob is being released in the "Quarterly Journal of Economics."

"Parents really value the relationship that teachers generate with their students," Lefgren said.

In the face of the federal No Child Left Behind Act, school districts are facing pressure to improve test scores and adopt programs that aim to teach students more basic concepts. Lefgren said that in affluent schools where academic standards are already being met, district or statewide policies targeting increasing test scores at the expense of student satisfaction are likely to be unpopular.

"I don't necessarily have a problem with No Child Left Behind, but I think that (districts and states) may want to think carefully about what the needs of their students are and what parents are looking for in education," Lefgren said.

In the study, Lefgren and Jacobs compared principals' evaluations of teachers' abilities to improve test scores, manage classrooms and be good role models with parents' requests for teachers. They studied a school district west of the Mississippi, which didn't want to be identified in the study, with a predominately white student population. About 21 percent of students in the district are eligible for free or reduced lunch -- the indicator used to measure economic status. The school district had test scores that were about average for the nation.

Lefgren and Jacob found that most of the time parents prefer teachers who principals describe as able to promote student satisfaction, except when the researchers examined the socio-economic status of the school. Parents in high-poverty schools, regardless of their own socioeconomic status, asked for teachers who appeared better able to help students academically.

"The increasing of academic performance is pretty much the only thing that parents appear to care about," Lefgren said, of low-income schools.

In schools with wealthier families, parents were asking for teachers who were able to keep their student happy.

"I think that all parents care about their kids achieving at a high level. I think a lot of it depends on the challenges the particular school is facing," Lefgren said.

Greg Hudnall, director of student services for the Provo School District, said parents want a teacher to care more about the child than the test score.

"What I see is parents wanting their children to have a positive experience in school. They want teachers that not only challenge the kids, but care about the kids," Hudnall wrote in an e-mail.

Lefgren said teachers who have a propensity to raise test scores are often the teachers who are engaging and lead to student satisfaction, so the two attributes are not mutually exclusive.

"If you get lucky, you get a teacher who does both really well," Lefgren said.

In Provo, one challenge is mobility. Hudnall said Provo School District has a 22 percent student mobility rate. In Title I schools, which receive more funding because they have a higher ratio of students receiving free or reduced-price lunch, the mobility rate gets higher, causing even more challenges for teachers.

Lefgren said one possible explanation for the continuum demonstrated by the study may be that academic resources are relatively scarce in higher-poverty schools. The study found that the best-trained teachers of the studied district were in more affluent schools. Because of the scarcity of resources, parents where basic academic needs have been met have the freedom to request teachers who can provide a better school experience, while parents in schools that may need more academic support request teachers who can provide that support.

• Brittani Lusk can be reached at 344-2549 or at blusk@heraldextra.com.