GENDER DIFFERENCES IN TEACHER AND STUDENT PERCEPTIONS OF GIFTED STUDENTS ABILITY AND EFFORT

This study investigated whether female gifted students viewed the qual ity and importance of their work, effort, and ability differently than male gifted students. The study also investigated whether teachers pe rceived male and female students differently with respect to these are as in mathematics, language arts, social studies, and science. The sam ple included 5,385 fourth through eighth grade students who were ident ified as gifted and talented by their teachers. Teachers consistently rated females higher than males on effort and the quality of their wor k. Teachers rated males and females similarly on all abilities except language arts in which they rated females higher. Female students rate d their language arts ability higher than males while the males rated their mathematics, science, and social studies abilities higher. The c orrelation between ratings of students' ability and quality of work an d ratings of students' effort and quality or work were significantly d ifferent for students and teachers.