Failing to notice? Uneven teachers\u2019 attention to boys and girls in the classroom

Marina Bassi,Mercedes Mateo Díaz,Ana Reynoso,Rae Lesser Blumberg

doi:10.1186/s40172-018-0069-4

Abstract

This paper analyzes whether teachers’ attention to boys and girls differs in low-performing schools in Chile, where large gender gaps in test scores are also observed. We coded 237 videotaped classes of fourth graders, identifying specific behaviors of teachers toward boys and girls. The results show a general imbalance in teachers’ attention and interactions favoring boys. Gender attention gap is correlated with lower scores in math for girls on Chile’s national standardized test (SIMCE). The gender attention gap was also greater in general in classrooms in which teachers had overall worse interactions with students, as measured by the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS). The evidence in this paper contributes to the discussion about whether traditional measures of teacher–student interactions really capture all that matters for learning.JEL ClassificationO12, J16, I2

Highlights

Teaching quality is critical to fostering student learning
Effective teaching is associated with the quality of the interactions between teachers and their students, with what happens inside the classroom and how the teacher uses the time in class
We look at call out, a student-initiated action (SIA)

Summary

Introduction

Teaching quality is critical to fostering student learning. An effective teacher can significantly reduce the learning gap between low- and high-performing students (Kane and Staiger 2012; Araujo et al 2016). This paper addresses whether differences between boys and girls in learning outcomes are associated with differences in the quantity and quality of teacher– student interactions. Girls whose teachers demonstrate greater attention bias favoring boys tend to have lower math scores. Carneiro et al (2017) examine whether differences in test scores between boys and girls in Ecuador vary with differences in the quality of the teacher–students interactions (measured by CLASS). Despite the significant gap in math test scores (in favor of boys), they find that, with their data, the quality of interactions cannot predict these gender differences in learning outcomes. Most research points to a prevalence of gender bias in favor of boys across subject areas and school environments, mostly in the form of teachers giving more attention to boys than girls (AAUW 1992; LaFrance 1991; Sadker and Sadker 1994; Sadker et al 1993)

Setting and methodology

Results

SIMCE scores and gender bias

Conclusions