INFLUENCE OF BEHAVIOR PERCEPTIONS AND GENDER ON TEACHERS JUDGMENTS OFSTUDENTS ACADEMIC SKILL

This study evaluated the hypothesis that gender and behavior, as perce ived by teachers, affect judgments of the academic skills of their stu dents. A path model was proposed to describe the relationships among t ested academic skill, gender, behavior grades, and teachers' academic judgments. The model was evaluated separately in each of 3 grades (kin dergarten-2nd) in 2 locations, with scholastic grades and structured r atings in specific academic skill areas as the dependent variables. Re sults showed that, after tested academic skill and gender were control led for, teachers' perceptions of students' behavior constituted a sig nificant component of their scholastic judgments. This effect was more pronounced for the judgments of boys because, in Grades 1 and 2, thei r conduct was perceived as less adequate than was girls' behavior.