Men among boys: the characteristics, qualifications and academic impact of male kindergarten teachers in America

This research examined the influence of teacher gender and teacher gender-related characteristics on student reading achievement during the kindergarten year. Using a nationally representative sample of male and female kindergarten teachers and their students collected as part of the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99, analytic methods were designed to address two specific issues. First, to consider whether male and female kindergarten teachers also differ significantly at the population level in terms of any other potentially important characteristics, such as gender-associated differences in demographic characteristics, educational qualifications, employment experience, or instructional practice tendencies. Second, to test whether teacher gender itself, or any such identified teacher gender-associated differences, are significantly associated with student achievement outcomes pertaining to reading growth over the kindergarten year. This was tested by incorporating teacher gender and gender-associated characteristic differences as covariates in a series of multilevel models designed to test each of these identified covariates for associations with student reading levels over the kindergarten year. Additional sample-restricted models were also tested to more specifically determine whether any identifiable aspect of having a male teacher could be supported as significantly benefiting kindergarten boys in terms of measurable reading achievement. Male kindergarten teachers were found to be younger (on average), less experienced, to have less formal training in early childhood education, and to be more likely to teach in either rural or urban schools and in half-day instructional settings. Population trends between male and female kindergarten teachers were not significantly different for any other areas of demographic characteristics or qualifications, and there was no evidence of any significant differences in instructional practices. Teacher gender was also not found to be significantly associated with kindergarten spring reading levels for either boys or girls. The most significant predictors of spring reading levels in this data were fall reading score, time lapse between assessments, student gender, student race/ethnicity, family SES, class type, and resident father status. Teacher gender did not, either alone or in interaction with student gender or other student characteristics, demonstrate any significant association with student end of year reading levels