Equitable Classroom Practices Institute
Best Practices for Achieving Gender Equity in the Classroom
The Equitable Classroom Practices Institute (ECPI), was a summer institute where
teacher participants from 11 Houston area schools viewed videotapes, reviewed
empirical studies, and participated in activities to promote awareness and strategies
for positive socialization of students. The resources on this page were developed as
a result of this institute.
Classroom Practices
• Student/Teacher Interaction
• Lesson Planning/Classroom Management
• Curriculum Content
Resources
• Equitable Practices Slideshow
• Online Resources
• Print Resources
Classroom Practices
After completing ECPI, teachers developed implementation plans that consist of the
following strategies that cultivate gender equity in classrooms. For the most part,
instructional strategies are based on the works of Anderson, Brooks, and Reavis,
1998; and Morrow, 1993; and Sadker & Sadker, 1994. The following practices are
divided into the three main areas of gender bias, Sadker, 1994 and are proven best
practices for all students.
Student/Teacher Interaction
• Call on girls as often as you do boys, and be sure to ask the girls some of the higher- level
cognitive questions. Research shows that both male and female teachers initiate more
interaction with boys, and on higher cognitive levels.
• Have high expectations of both male and female students. Do not encourage learned
helplessness by over-nurturing the girls.
• Encourage girls to be active learners by using manipulatives and providing hands-on
learning experiences.
• Use gender-free language in classroom discourse.
• Use quality, precise feedback to girls' as well as boys' answers - not just a nod or a "good."
• Keep an interaction journal. Keep tract of the quantity and quality of interactions with
students.
• Make eye contact with all students and call them by name.
• Provide adequate wait time, perhaps 3 or 5 seconds, before calling on a student to answer
the question. Females often wait until they have formulated an answer before they raise
their hands; boys often raise their hands immediately and then formulate an answer.
• Do not interrupt girls or let other students do so.
• Refrain from recruiting students to perform classroom "chores" based on traditional gender
roles. Do not ask only boys to assist in carrying boxes and girls to clean the
bookshelves.
• Be a model of non-bias behavior for not only your classroom, but also the entire school.
Lesson Planning/Classroom Management
• Mentally divide your room into quadrants. If students in all quadrants do not participate,
you can say, "Let's hear from someone in the back right corner."
• Balance cooperative and competitive activities. Research shows that most girls learn more
readily in cooperative situations.
• Establish rules for participation and rotate jobs within each group.
• Give girls an equal amount of assistance and feedback. Boys usually receive more help and
praise that builds self-esteem.
• Ask students to discuss concepts orally. This helps students to learn the vocabulary of the
subject.
• Encourage all students to take additional math and science courses. Adult encouragement
proves to be a major factor in students' decision-making processes.
• Encourage girls to participate in extracurricular math and science activities. Some schools
have organized Girls' Clubs where female students interact with mentors in the fields of
math, science, technology, and engineering.
• Sponsor a Girls' Technology Club. Plan activities that use technology in real life scenarios.
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(Do the same for math and science.)
Provide opportunities for female students to teach lessons or tutor younger students or even
parents in math, science, and technology. As a teacher, you will ascertain that the girls
really know the content and the opportunity to verbalize such fosters higher self-esteem.
Stress safety precautions instead of dangers. Girls will sometimes be reluctant to participate
in lab activities if they seem too dangerous.
Insist that girls as well as boys learn to set up and use all electronic equipment: VCR's,
video and digital cameras, printers, scanners, DVD players, etc…
Address inappropriate behavior with a fair and respectful attitude, regardless of gender,
race, ethnicity, or socioeconomic class of students. Video tape yourself to monitor your
actions.
Use computer and lab partners. Again, most girls work better in cooperative groups or
teams.
Introduce lessons with an overview. Females learn more readily from the "big picture"
rather than from disconnected details.
Provide female role models. Research shows that girls need to see females in certain
professions or career choices in order to visualize themselves in the same or similar
roles; whereas boys need only to hear about certain roles to imagine them selves taking
place in those same roles.
Provide learning experiences for girls to develop spatial visualization skills.
Use writing to help students express and clarify their feelings and thoughts (e.g., math
autobiographies, science journals).
Create an attractive classroom environment. Research shows that girls learn better in an
aesthetically pleasing environment.
• To appeal to students with various learning styles, encourage students to solve problems by
multiple methods.
Curriculum Content
• Use gender inclusive language.
• Avoid generalizations that stereotype women in certain roles.
• Encourage a "can do" attitude; teach students to give themselves credit. Females tend to
credit their achievements to luck rather than to their ability.
• Analyze curricular materials for bias and supplement as needed.
• Take girls to an Expanding Your Horizons conference in your area. These conferences
sponsored by AAUW, provide female students with access to workshops led by female
professionals in the areas of math, science, technology, and engineering.
• Use toys to teach concepts in math and science. Traditionally, toys that cultivate
understanding of math and science concepts are typically marketed as "boy's toys."
• Set aside an area in the classroom to serve as a resource center that includes materials in
career opportunities in math, science, technology, and engineering.
• Diversify classroom resources to include females and diverse races.
• Celebrate Women's History Month.
• Assign biographical essays to students. Focus on male and female inventors and females in
other areas of math, science, and technology.
• Acknowledge the contributions of both men and women to mathematics and science via
posters, reports, examples, story problems, etc.
• Provide current events representative of women and other minorities with varying
economic, legal, and social concerns.
• Invite quest speakers of both genders to speak to students.
• Incorporate students' comments into lectures. This technique validates the students'
understanding of concepts.
• Help female students value them selves. Girls often have a severe drop in self -esteem
during the middle school years. Women teachers need to model a healthy self-respect
and male teachers need to have respect for both girl students and female colleagues.