Teachers' Evaluations of Pupils' Performance as a Function of Pupils' Sex, Family Type and Past School Performance

The purpose of the present study was to investigate how teachers' evaluations of the performance of pupils in school are influenced by knowledge of the pupils' family background, sex, and past performance. The subjects of the study consisted of 241 Israeli teachers who were divided into three groups and asked to grade an essay written by a fourth grade pupil. The pupil was described to them as either a boy or girl, and as living either with both parents or with a divorced mother. One group of teachers was given no additional information about the pupil; another group was provided with the pupil's report card, which included no numerical grades but contained teachers' comments about the child's achievement at school; the third group received a full report card containing numerical grades as well as teachers' comments. The results showed a significant Sex main effect and significant Sex x Family Type interaction. Boys from intact families were graded higher than girls from intact families. The study's statistically significant and nonsignificant results are discussed in terms of the effect of background information on the persistence of stereotypes, and in terms of the external validity of studies that rely on teachers' evaluations.