Pupil Sex as a Variable in Teacher Perception of Classroom 3ehaviorl

Felsenthal, Helen Pupil Sex as a Variable in Teacher Perception of Classroom Behavior. 71 15p.; Paper presented at AERA annual meeting, NEW York, 1971 EDRS Price MF-$0.65 HC-$3.29 *Elementary School Students, Females, Grade 1, Males, *Reading Achievement, *Sex Differences, *Student Behavior, *Teacher Attitudes This study investigated differences related to pupils' sex in female teachers' perceptions of pupil social behavicr and rlatd these differences to reading achievement. A questionnaire was utilized to measure teachers' perceptions of pupil tehavict. Data was ottained frcm a sample of 20 female first grade teachers and their pupils, 220 girls and 219 boys. Teacher praise and criticism behaviors were recorded through an author-constructed Classrocm Observation Record. Data was analyzed through correlation procedures and analysis of variance techniques. Results indicated that teachers perceived boys as displaying significantly more negative behavior than girls. Boys were criticized significantly more often than girls and received significantly lcwer reading achievement scores. Pupils of either sex who rated as aggressive and hostile received low achievement sccres. (RI) Pupil Sex as a Variable in Teacher Perception of Classroom 3ehaviorl Helen Felsenthal Purdue University U.S. DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, EDUCATION & WELFARE OFFICE OF EDUCATION THIS DOCUMENT HAS BEEN REPRODUCED EXACTLY AS RECEIVED FROM THE PERSON OR ORGANIZATION ORIGINATING IT. POINTS OF VIEW OR OPINIONS STATED DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT OFFICIAL OFFICE OF EDU CATION POSITION OR POLICY. In ordinary practices the factor of attitudes is often forgotten in the behavior equation. When a parent or teacher is distressed by the behavior of a child, the usual assumption is that the difficulty is with the child . . . (However) it is impossible to consider a child's behavior apart from the attitudes that are taken toward his conduct. The two are intimately related and bound up in the same issue, (Wickman, 1929) Over forty years ago the main emphasis in a classic study by Wickman was the comparison of the seriousness of children's behavior as perceived by teachers and mental health experts. His study stressed the importance of teacher's perceptions of classroom behaviors' In the intervening forty two years, there has been more than a dozen similar or identical repetitions of the original study (Westbrook, 1970), but few of these studies have attempted to examine the relationship between teacher's perceptions of behavior and pupil achievement, In fact there have been relatively few investigations of the relationships between what teachers do in the classroom and pupil achievement (Nuthall, 1969; Neux, 1967), One could go a step further and state that the sex factor has been almost completely overlooked when studying teacher effects. Educators know that sex differences in learning, as measured by achievement, do, in fact, exist. There is ample evidence that boys have a significantly 11. paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, New York City, February, 1971.