Achievement Of Boys Research Articles

Gender, Socioeconomic Status, and Mathematics Achievement by Xhosa Children

This study investigated gender and socioeconomic status differences in mathematics achievement of 1021 Xhosa children (369 boys and 652 girls) whose ages ranged from 13 to 17 yr. ( M age, 15.6 yr.). They were chosen at random from the Standard 7 population of Transkei, South Africa. Their marks on the Standard 7 External Examination in mathematics was the criterion measure. A two-way analysis of variance indicated that mathematical achievement of girls was significantly higher than that of boys of low socioeconomic status whereas at middle and high socioeconomic status mathematics achievement of boys was significantly higher than that of the girls.

Parental Child Rearing and Academic Achievement in Boys

This study investigated two nonintellectual factors that may partly explain the relation between parenting and academic achievement-sons' self-restraint and emotional adjustment-in a sample of 85 sixth-grade boys. Results of multiple regression techniques indicated that sons' reports of mothers' harsh and inconsistent discipline were related both directly and negatively to sons' classroom grades and indirectly via sons' global distress and low cognitive self-worth. Fathers' harsh and inconsistent discipline was related only indirectly to sons' grades by way of its independent association with sons' distress and low self-restraint. In general, these results were replicated when standardized test scores were substituted into the model. These findings underscore the critical contribution of social and emotional development to academic and intellectual achievements, and the key role of parent-child relationships in influencing such development.

Affective processes and academic achievement.

Achievement, empathy, depressive affectivity, aggression, and self-concept measures were obtained for 8-9- and 10-11-year-olds. Depressive affectivity and aggression were assessed by teacher ratings and self-reports. Empathy was assessed by audiovisual tapes. Measures were readministered to the younger group 2 years later. Achievement scores were highly stable. Significant test-retest correlations were also found for the affective measures. Self-reports were negligibly related to achievement. For girls, strong relations were found between empathy at age 8-9 and achievement in reading and spelling at age 10-11. Teacher ratings of depressive affectivity were inversely related to achievement for boys and girls at age 8-9, but significant at age 10-11 for girls only. Initial ratings of depressive affectivity were predictive of girls' subsequent achievement. A similar pattern was found for teacher ratings of aggression.

Gender and science achievement: A case study

Upon completion of a science unit on heat and temperature, the students in a Canadian 9th grade science class wrote two different achievement tests. On a unit test which required students to answer questions that were based on facts students had studied, grades obtained by girls and boys were not significantly different. Conversely, on a post‐test, which required that students apply their knowledge to novel situations, boys achievement was significantly greater than that of the girls, particularly on higher level questions. Classroom observations revealed that few girls contributed to class discussions, whereas most of the boys participated in discussions. It is suggested that the more active class participation by boys may have contributed to their making greater gains in the understanding of heat and temperature concepts.

School science achievement: Conditions for equality

Data are presented on the trend in sex differences in science achievement of the total population of 15 year old students in Western Australia over the period 1972‐85 inclusive. Since 1979 the science achievement of boys and girls has been approximately equal. This finding is attributed to the fact that, in Western Australia, at lower secondary school level, boys and girls are exposed to a common science curriculum for a common amount of instructional time. A discussion of the differential course taking hypothesis as an explanation for sex differences in science achievement found in other large‐scale studies is presented. Some evidence of the possible success of intervention strategies aimed at increasing the involvement of girls in science is given.

Girls and Mathematics: A Report of the Joint Mathematical Education Committee of the Royal Society and the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications

THE statement that mathematics and mathematical thinking are highly desirable skills for full participation in work, leisure activities and society generally in the developed world is obvious to the readers of this journal. For most readers, the desirability of equality of opportunity is just as obvious, but the consequence of the two statements is not always so readily acknowledged. It is unfortunately a fact that participation and achievement in mathematics in this country and in most others like it is heavily sex dependent. Girls, who account for 60 per cent, of university students reading English, form only about 28 per cent, of those graduating in mathematics and the figures are only marginally better at A-level. In effect, this means that many girls are cut off from careers and activities which are open to a much larger proportion of their male contemporaries. The fact that there are differences in performance between boys and girls does not necessarily mean that there are differences in aptitude or innate ability. In spite of the difference in participation, there is an enormous overlap in achievement of boys and girls. Put differently, while the mean achievement of girls is below that of boys, the huge overlap leads, for example, to there being large numbers of girls doing much better than average boys. Girls can and do succeed at a high level. Having said this, it becomes anomalous to make too much of any distinction between the sexes in mathematics. The Report on Girls and Mathematics published by the Royal Society and the Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, of which a short version appears below, sets out ways in which both in education and in society generally there are at present differences in approach and attitudes, and it makes recommendations designed to help all of us to ensure that all children, regardless of their sex, have a good chance to participate fully in mathematics, to enjoy it and to use it to full advantage. A considerable effort on the part of all concerned is required and the hope is that this report will lead to such an effort being launched. I wish to record the thanks of the working party to the Royal Society secretariat who assisted in the preparation of the Report.

Performance of three-year-old children on the Berry Visual-Motor Integration Test.

Growth Process Center' Beery contends that the Visual-motor Integration Test can be used to identify learning disability as a result-of a deficit in visual-motor integration (1, 2, 3). In his standardization sample, 28 3-yr.-old suburban children were tested, but none were rural or lower middle-class. In the current investigation, the test was administered individually to 32 girls and 32 boys ranging in age from 3-0 to 3-1 1, who were enrolled full time in an experimental program in an early childhood center. The sample was based on a cross-section of children from a major city in the Midwest. Children were randomly selected by a computer and represented several racial-ethnic groups: 45% white, 30% black, 19% Hispanic (included Puerto Rican, Mexican, Cuban, and other Spanish-surnamed groups), 6% American Indian and Oriental. Represented also were five socio-economic categories: (a) no education and no job, (b) eighth-grade graduate, (c) some high school, (d) high school graduate, and (e) some college, college graduate, Master's degree, and above. Data were recorded for each subject as to sex, age in months at time of testing (boys 43.2 mo., girls 42.2 mo); Beery test raw score (38.3 mo. vs 39.9 mo.. girls). Validity coefficients were calculated using the Pearson product-moment method. A correlation of .41 between chronological age and geometric form reproduction for girls was found; for males r was ,008. When failure of G mo. or more below CA was used as an index on the Beery test to compare achievement of boys and girls, 53% of the boys were below level and 21% of the girls. For 3-yr.-old boys there is no correlation while it appears low for girls. Beery did not provide cut-off points for identifying learning disabilities in 3-yr.-olds, but cut-offs might not be of use since the correlations are low. Finally, in terms of individual or group assessment, the Beery test should be used only as a rough guide with 3-yr.-old children.

Criterion-related validity of three common preschool assessment instruments for boys and girls.

Pearson correlations of scores on two instruments for preschool assessment with first-grade achievement scores taken 2 yr. later were compared across sex for 44 boys and 45 girls seen initially at Kindergarten entry. Correlations between WPPSI IQs and scores from concurrently administered WRAT subtests were compared across sex for 30 boys and 30 girls referred by regular classroom teachers for school psychological services. Lack of significant differences in the comparisons supports these instruments as equally valid predictors of achievement for boys and girls.

The Effect of Male Teachers on the Academic Achievement of Father-Absent Sixth Grade Boys

AbstractPrevious research has shown that as a group the reading achievement of father-absent elementary school boys is very low. It has been hypothesized that these boys might benefit from instruction by a male teacher. This study investigated whether assigning father-absent sixth grade boys to male teachers would result in higher academic achievement than that of similar boys assigned to female teachers, holding fifth grade achievement test scores and intelligence quotients statistically constant. Results indicated that male teachers had no significant effect upon the academic achievement of these boys. It is suggested that strategies other than assignment to male teachers be pursued by educators committed to helping improve the academic achievement of these boys.

Reflection-Impulsivity as a Predictor of Children's Academic Achievement

To examine the implications of differences in reflection-impulsivity for later academic achievement, 70 children were administered the Matching Familiar Figures test (MFF) in grade 4 and the Comprehensive Tests of Basic Skills (CTBS) in grades 4, 5, and 6. Children identified as reflective based on grade 4 MFF performance scored significantly higher on the CTBS achievement battery at all grade levels than those classified as impulsive. However, the 2 groups did not differ on the grade 5 or grade 6 achievement measures when scores were adjusted for initial differences in grade 4 CTBS. Similarly, while each of the continuous variables MFF error score and MFF response latency was significantly predictive of grade 5 and grade 6 achievement test scores, neither of the MFF variables significantly improved the prediction of academic performance when current level of achievement was statistically accounted for. Sex differences in the relations between the MFF variables and the achievement measures were identified; MFF error score was more strongly related to later academic achievement for boys than for girls, while MFF response latency was a better predictor of academic achievement for girls than for boys.

The Effects of Family Size, Birth Order, Sibling Separation and Crowding on the Academic Achievement of Boys and Girls

Family constellation variables such as family size, birth order, spacing of children, and crowding were related to academic achievement when IQ was controlled. The sample consisted of 306 girls and 247 boys from large and small families living in four suburban Boston communities. It was found after controlling for IQ that small family boys tended to have better grades than did large family boys. First born girls had higher academic achievement than did latter born girls. Thus a sex-specific pattern of relationships between family constellation and academic achievement appeared. It was suggested that first born girls were more likely to develop patterns of responsibility and hard work which helped them academically. Boys in small families were possibly more oriented toward adult values while large family buys may have been more influenced by peer group, anti-academic values. Crowding was negatively related to achievement for both sexes but its effect became non-significant when IQ was controlled. Sibling spacing was significantly related to achievement only for boys and also lost significance when IQ was controlled.

Maternal aspirations, socialization, and achievement of boys and girls in the white working class

Analysis of the scholastic achievement of 150 white pre-teen-age boys and girls in relation to their mothers' aspirations for them, selected socialization practices, and their social origins helps explain disparities in scholastic achievement between working class and middle class children as well as disparities in achievement within the working class. Mothers in this stratum, as a rule, do not articulate high educational and occupational aspirations for their children, especially for girls. Yet, girls exhibit significantly higher achievement than boys and their achievement is conditioned more by maternal aspirations than that of boys. Girls' greater responsiveness to their mothers' aspirations and their higher scholastic ability are due to the fact that white working class mothers engage in more early interaction and employ less coercive discipline with daughters than with sons. Boys' achievement is more responsive to variations in maternal practices than to maternal aspirations. Although not typical, mothers who interact much with their sons early in life and who do not employ coercive discipline produce high-achieving sons. Otherwise, they do not, whatever aspirations they hold for their sons. For girls, maternal aspiration is the more critical determinant of achievement. Downwardly mobile women, those working class women with middle class origins, differ from the stable women in their stratum in that they have equally high aspirations for daughters and sons. As a result of their mothers' high aspirations and more enlightened practices, the daughters of downwardly mobile women are the highest achievers in the white working class. Their sons, however, are underachievers, mainly because downward mobiles adopt the prevailing pattern of their class of destination and rely more on coercive discipline in socializing boys.

Sex Differences in the School Gains of Migrant Children

Sex Differences in the School Gains of Migrant Children

Scholastic Achievement of Boys 9,12, and 15 Years of Age as Related to Various Strength and Growth Measures

Abstract The experimental design used in this study consisted of forming a series of high and low scoring groups of 20 boys each separately on the basis of three strength and two growth measures at each age, 9, 12, and 15 years; each pair of high and low groups was equated by use of intelligence quotients. The academic achievements of the groups were then contrasted. A consistent and significant tendency for the high groups to have higher means on both standard achievement tests and grade point averages was noted. There were more and greater differences in scholastic achievement between the high and low Physical Fitness Index groups than there were for the other strength and growth measures compared. The Strength Index was especially effective at nine years of age. For each of the other experimental variables, Rogers' arm strength score, McCloy's Classification Index, and Wetzel's developmental level, significance between means on academic measures was achieved once only.

Sex Differences in Secondary School Mathematics

In connection with a committee report for the American Educational Research Association the author had occasion to search for and abstract the investigations reporting data relative to the respective achievements of boys and girls in high school mathematics. More studies were located than are reported here. Some of them were of doubtful reliability and a few were not available.

A Co-Operative Study of Reading in Eleven Cities of Northern Illinois

A co-operative study of reading was organized during the month of September by the committee in charge of the gradeteacher's section of the Illinois State Teachers Association (Northeastern Section), which met at Elgin, Illinois, November 3 and 4. The purpose of this study was to secure a body of facts in regard to the achievement of boys and girls in reading in a number of schools represented in the Association. The superintendents and teachers of Aurora, Barrington, Berwyn, Cicero, Crystal Lake, Harvey, Hinsdale, Joliet, River Forest, Sycamore, and Winnetka co-operated. All of these cities are located within a radius of fifty miles of Chicago. The College of Education of the University of Chicago organized the details of this study, carried on a number of conferences with representatives of the various schools, sent out the tests, scored the results, and returned the material together with. detailed reports to the respective schools. The results of the study were presented by the writer at two sectional conferences of grade teachers at the Elgin meeting. In organizing this investigation the distinction between oral reading and silent reading was recognized as one of first importance. Justification for this distinction will come out more fully in later paragraphs. For the purposes of introduction it is sufficient to remark that the importance of silent reading is not recognized as fully as it should be. In the primary grades of the elementary school special emphasis has usually been given to oral reading. This type of reading proves to be appropriate and economical during that period in which the pupil is mastering the fundamental steps in reading. During the intermediate and upper grades the pupil is frequently called upon to read orally in con-