The effects of gender-based instructional strategies on the achievement of seventh-grade boys in single-gender reading classes and seventh-grade girls in single-gender math courses

Abstract

This study examined the relationship between the reading achievement of seventh-grade boys in single-gender classes at a Tennessee charter school on the ANET (Achievement Assessment) who implemented fidgets and movement breaks compared to boys and girls who did not. Fidgets can be described as manipulatives that students can twist, turn, or squeeze during instruction to help maintain focus. This study also examined the relationship between the math achievement of seventh-grade girls in single-gender classes at a Tennessee charter school on the ANET assessment in 2016 that used process grading and mathematical written expression compared to boys and girls who did not. A paired-samples t-test was conducted to compare the fall preassessment achievement scores of males and females in seventh-grade single-gender reading classes and the winter postassessment achievement scores of males and females in seventh-grade single-gender math classes after receiving gender-based instructional strategies. A one-way analysis of variance was also conducted to examine the effect of implementing written expression and process grading with girls in a seventh-grade single-gender math class to girls and boys in seventh-grade single-gender math classes with no treatment. The ANCOVA was conducted to compare the effects of using fidgets and movement breaks with boys in a seventh-grade single-gender reading class to girls and boys in seventh-grade single-gender reading classes with no treatment. The findings of this study did not support the use of the gender-based strategies as having an effect on the achievement of seventh-grade boys in reading and seventh-grade girls in math in single-gender classes.