FEATURES What Do We Know About Girls? Ensuring Gender Equity In the Classroom

Parents want their daughters ’ classrooms to be free of gender bias. Principals should be aware of the latest research on adolescent girls’ development as it relates to learning, and help their teachers devise strategies for ensuring gender equity in the classroom. hat do we know about girls? It seems an appropriate question to ~~J~ ~ raise in light of the research that shows &dquo;the transition from ele-w V V mentary school to middle school may be the most damaging period of a girl’s young life&dquo; (Sadker and Sadker, 1994). Research shows that, from elementary school on, girls &dquo;receive less active instruction, both in the quantity and in the quality of teacher time and attention&dquo; (Sadker and Sadker, 1994). Boys place more demands on the lim-ited time that teachers have to interact with their students; boys dominate classroom discussions, leading an indignant eighth grade girl to comment: &dquo;Boys just shout out an answer. They don’t even care if it’s right.&dquo; Adolescence Is a Turbulent Time For both boys and girls, adolescence is a turbulent time of physical an