COLLEGE-STUDENTS VIEWS OF MALE AND FEMALE COLLEGE-TEACHERS .2. EVIDENCE FROM STUDENTS EVALUATIONS OF THEIR CLASSROOM TEACHERS

Although a majority of studies have found that male and female college teachers do not differ in the global ratings they receive from their students, when statistically significant differences are found, more o f them favor women than men. Across studies, the average association b etween gender and overall evaluation, while favoring women (average r = +.02), is so small as to be insignificant in practical terms. Consid ering specific instructional dimensions of evaluations, female teacher s receive very slightly higher ratings on their sensitivity to and con cern with class level and progress than do men (average r = +.12). On other specific dimensions, men and women either do not differ or the d ifferences are trivial in size (or, for two dimensions, while nontrivi al, based on too few studies to be generalizable with any degree of ce rtainty). Students tend to rate same-gendered teachers a little higher than opposite-gendered teachers. Although interaction effects on eval uations have also been found between gender of teacher and other facto rs (academic rank of the teacher. academic area, class level of the co urse, difficulty of the teacher or course, and the teacher's pedagogic al orientation or personality characteristics), they are inconsistent across studies. Moreover, ratings of teachers are sometimes enhanced b y gender-typical, and sometimes by gender-atypical, attributes, behavi ors, and positions. The findings are discussed in terms of the expecta tions or demands of students and whether or not student ratings are bi ased by the gender of the teacher.