Making Sense of Mathematics for Teaching Girls in Grades K - 5. Thomasenia Lott Adams

mathematics achievement scores to their actual scores (p. 1264). In their findings (Robinson-Cimpian et al., 2014), teachers perceived boys’ mathematical performance to be higher than their girl counterparts, even when boys and girls perform the same. Gender stereotypes and bias that impact teachers’ perceptions of their students’ mathematics performance, achievement, and aptitude may drive the process of differential ratings.

      In general, trends suggest that as early as second grade, girls are less confident in their ability to engage in mathematics tasks and are more anxious than boys about mathematics performance (Casey, 2017; Ganley & Lubienski, 2016a; Post, 2015). These gender differences in self-perceptions are larger than actual achievement gaps, however, as highlighted by the NAEP self-concept in mathematics achievement data and other examples shared earlier in this chapter. How are mathematics teachers and teams contributing to these young students’ individual beliefs? Ganley and Lubienski (2016c) suggest that girls’ attitudes toward mathematics should receive greater emphasis in day-to-day classroom experiences with teachers rather than in the short, out-of-classroom experiences and interventions such as camps and after-school programs that are often developed to increase the representation of girls and women in STEM. This position leads to placing great value on the teacher-student relationship and the way this relationship can influence students’ learning.

Conclusion

      In our society, gender is a factor in many situations that dictates who can do what, who can learn what, who can have what, and so on. This perspective is also present in schools and classrooms. In the context of this book, it is present in the form of the mathematics gender achievement gap. When there is one instance in which girls do not receive support to achieve in mathematics in the same ways as boys do, this is one instance too many. Whether the achievement gap is real or perceived is not the issue. The fact of the matter is there are girls in our schools who are not engaging, excelling, or both to their potential in mathematics. We have an opportunity and responsibility to improve on this issue. That is the singular aim of this book.

      Use figure 1.7 to determine what actions you can take to help parents and guardians do their part to close the gap.

Figure 1.7: Actions to improve parents’ and guardians’ perspectives about girls learning mathematics.

       Reflections

      Answer the following five questions independently or in your book study to further your understanding and goals related to teaching girls mathematics.