but perhaps a difficulty in a girls ability to interact in a co-educational mathrelated settings which determines her math success. In other words, there mightnot be a math problem in and of itself but perhaps math differences were onemanifestation of differences in inter-gender communication and interaction styles.In Gender Based Education: Why it Works at the Middle School Level, WilliamC, Perry (1996), the principal of a middle school cites studies from the AmericanAssociation of University Women (1991, 1992), supporting the theory that genderrelated math ability differences don't become manifest until middle school. Mr.Perry was very concerned about reports he had read or heard presented showingthat there is bias against girls in the classrooms. In response to the researchersconcerns, a study was done in which participating students were assigned to samesex classes. The study reports increased grade point averages for both boys andgirls participating in the study. I would have liked to see the standardized testscores for both groups of students. While grades are one indicator ofperformance, it seems that if there is bias in teaching styles, there could be bias ingrading. Standardized scores could give a better vantage point for analyzingactual differences in math comprehension. This study ties in with the followingtwo studies which point to an institutionalized problemIn G. Leder's research, Teacher Student Interactions in the MathematicsClassroom: A Different Perspective, the researcher video tapes classes todetermine types and frequency of interactions with students. this was correlatedwith test scores, perception reports from teachers as well as self reports of mathperceived math ability of the students. In this study, males and females wererelatively equal in ability n the lower grade levels, but males tended to do better inthe 10th grade level. This becomes very intriguing when it is noted that self reportand tea...
