The document discusses a study that examined the math performance of 9th and 10th grade girls in either a female-only math class or a co-ed class. The study found that contrary to expectations, the girls performed the same in both environments. It also discusses the development of a self-assessment tool for teachers to evaluate their implementation of standards-based math teaching, finding it to be reliable and consistent compared to more sophisticated evaluation systems.

1. By: April Netz Everybody Loves Math!

2. Girls Only Math Math Anxiety Assessments Citations Teachers Love Teaching! Kids Love Learning!

3. Would the math results of adolescent girls be different in a girls curriculum than a co-ed curriculum? This study examined 9 th and 10 th graders in a female only math and science class compared to the females in a co-ed classroom. Contents Next Citations

4. Results Researchers studied two groups of females, those in a co-ed learning environment, and those in a female-only environment. The scientists tried to account for pre-existing differences in the subjects. This study found that, contrary to popular expectation, the women performed the same across subject groups. Contents Next Citations

5. I Believe I feel like these results are not altogether unexpected. Girls in our society are vehemently taught that they are every bit as capable as boys. I think that not too far in our society’s past, the results would have been much different, but educators of young children have put much more of an importance on equality, pride, and capability for all children alike. Contents Next Citations

6. Math Anxiety: Personal, Educational, and Cognitive Consequences Math students feel mental stress Elementary through college Students avoid math classes by: Mark H. Ashcraft Contents Next Citations

7. Consequences Mark believes that our society fosters feelings of anxiety in math classes. When students or adults feel anxious and self-conscious about math, simple problems become hard. Math-anxious people tend to do worse in math classes, and tend to score highly on other anxiety tests. Anxiety tends to drop math test scores, even if students are knowledgeable about the math content. Contents Next Citations

8. I Believe Teachers should start with students at a very young age to help them be comfortable in math environments. As a potential elementary school teacher, I love math! I plan to introduce and teach math (and the other subjects) as games and challenges. I think it’s important that teachers and parents show kids that math can be fun, and help all students be comfortable during tests and in classes. Contents Next Citations

9. How do you judge the implementation of standards-based math teaching? There is a computer program that judges the performance of a teacher regarding the implementation of standards based math teaching. It is very expensive, so these researchers suggest a self evaluation as a reliable and cheap alternative. Contents Next Citations

10. The Theory These authors have come up with a series of questions for teachers to answer about their curriculum. It contains questions regarding the content of their lessons, and with the answers, can judge the use of standards in their class. Many studies have been done comparing more sophisticated systems with this question and answer system, and this method is very reliable and consistent. The assessment includes statements like: I use math problems that can be solved in many different ways I teach students how to explain their math ideas I integrate assessment into most math activities Contents Next Citations

11. I Believe This is a very worthwhile study. The new teacher assessment is reliable and consistent, with a low deviation. I think that most self assessment methods are fairly accurate, because, as they say, you are your biggest critic. Also, teachers know best what goes on in their classroom on a daily basis, and I feel like it would be easy to discover a false test. Especially if this assessment requires the teachers to write a short explanation to their answers. I think it sounds like a great system. Contents Citations

12. A Survey Measuring Elementary Teachers' Implementation of Standards-Based Mathematics Teaching. John A. Ross, Douglas McDougall, Anne Hogaboam- Gray and Ann LeSage. Journal for Research in Mathematics Education , Vol. 34, No. 4 (Jul., 2003), pp. 344-363 . Published by: National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Effects of a Girls-Only Curriculum during Adolescence: Performance, Persistence, and Engagement in Mathematics and Science . Jennifer D. Shapka and Daniel P. Keating. American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 40, No. 4 (Winter, 2003), pp. 929-960. American Educational Research Association Math Anxiety: Personal, Educational, and Cognitive Consequences. Mark H. Ashcraft. Current Directions in Psychological Science , Vol. 11, No. 5 (Oct., 2002), pp. 181- 185. Blackwell Publishing on behalf of Association for Psychological Science . Contents