Influence of elementary student gender on teachers' perceptions of mathematics achievement

Mathematical skill level, classroom behavior, and effort of 512 students were rated by 15 third-grade teachers and 14 fifth-grade teachers. Of those students, 464 completed mathematics and reading achievement tests. Correlation and regression analyses were performed to measure the relationship between student gender and teacher perceptions of their mathematics proficiency. In both third and fifth grades, regression results showed that mathematics and reading achievement test scores, together with student effort, were significant predictors of teacher rating of student mathematics achievement. Gender was not a significant contributor in either grade. Similar results were found when students were split by general or special education. The findings suggest that the teachers did not consider student gender when rating the mathematics skill level of their students.