Good Classroom Behavior Helps Girls Score High Grades in School

A student's approach toward learning and classroom behavior can predict whether he/she will score high grades in school, researchers say. They found these two factors help girls get better grades compared to boys.

For the study, a team of researchers followed nearly 6,000 students from kindergarten to fifth grade. During the study period, all students participated in standardized tests related to reading, math and science. Co-author of the study, Christopher Cornwell and colleagues, then compared the test scores with teacher's assessments and grades.

They found considerable dissimilarity between test scores and teacher grades. Even though boys scored better on standardized tests compared to girls, they were found to get lower teacher grades.

Researchers found students' classroom behavior and approach to learning or students' attitude toward the school, i.e. factors like task persistence, organization, paying attention, eagerness to learn, flexibility and learning independence, more important in scoring high grades.

"The skill that matters the most in regards to how teachers graded their students is what we refer to as 'approaches toward learning,'" Cornwell said in a news release. "I think that anybody who's a parent of boys and girls can tell you that girls are more of all of that."

According to researchers, the findings bring concern as it can affect the future of boys. Cornwell also cited non-cognitive skills as playing an important role in making women more successful in life and getting more college degrees recently.

"The trajectory at which kids move through school is often influenced by a teacher's assessment of their performance, their grades. This affects their ability to enter into advanced classes and other kinds of academic opportunities, even post-secondary opportunities," Cornwell said. "It's also typically the grades you earn in school that are weighted the most heavily in college admissions. So if grade disparities emerge this early on, it's not surprising that by the time these children are ready to go to college, girls will be better positioned."

Results of the study have been published in Journal of Human Resources.