The effect of the variables of student sex, grade level, and student achievement on teacher sex role expectations was assessed. Two hundred responses from 70 classroom teachers on the Teacher Sex Role Perception inventory (an adaptation of the Bern Sex Role Inventory) were analyzed. Of the four variables considered, student achievement alone was a highly significant predictor. Teachers classified highachieving students as androgynous and masculine. Low-achieving students were classified as feminine and undifferentiated. This negative relationship between the feminine sex role and high achievement may be a factor in declining female achievement over grade level.Achievement seems to decline for girls the longer they are in school, potentially limiting important life choices of many girls, while boys' achievement seems to increase over grade level. One factor which may influence student achievement is teacher expectation. Although the expectation effect (self-fulfilling prophecy effect) lacks consistent empirical support in its effect on student achievement, a "naturally" based expectancy (such as student sex might evoke) has greater support as a stimulus on teacher expectancy than do artificially induced expectations. For example, Seaver (1971) found that younger siblings of "good" students obtained higher achievement scores when they were assigned to the older siblings' previous teacher than they did if they were assigned to a new teacher. On the other hand, young siblings of "poor" students did significantly better with a new teacher than they did with their oldfer siblings' previous teacher. Naturally induced expectations This study was reported at the
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