Date of Conferral

2023

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Psychology

Advisor

Jesus Tanguma

Abstract

Prior research suggested that all students were not treated equally in the educational setting and that boys perform better than girls on standardized tests. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine how class composition affected performance on the math section of the Educational Records Bureau (ERB) test and Preliminary SAT (PSAT) among girls who took single-gender classes and girls who remained in coed math classes. Gender essentialism and gender constructivism are important to the study of single-gender education because the foundation of single-gender education is in understanding brain development to design a classroom that allows for differences to guide the process of learning. Archived data obtained from a private school in the southeastern United States were analyzed using a general linear model univariate and an independent-samples t test. Data analysis indicated a significant mean difference in the math ERB scores due to placement in single-gender or coed classes. There was no interaction effect in math ERB scores between single-gender and coed classes in the math ERB scores due to having taken Algebra 1 or Geometry. Girls in coed classes on average (M = 791.36, SD = 97.50) scored higher than girls in single-gender classes (M = 746.05, SD = 89.31) on the math ERB. Statistically significant results were shown in the examination of PSAT scores due to having been in single-gender (M = 536.80, SD = 84.89) or coed (M = 583.80, SD = 83.54) classes; t(98) = 2.79, p = .006. The study has positive social change implications because it challenges gender norms about the education of girls in the area of math.

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