Grade Expectations as a Function of Sex, Academic Discipline, and Sex of Instructor

Abstract

Twelve hundred and fifty college students starting introductory courses in thirteen academic disciplines were asked to predict their grade in the course. Results showed that overall, males predicted higher grades for themselves than did females (p <.001). This held true for entering freshmen as well as for those with previous college experience. The phenomena was noted in 26 of 37 classes tested, including 7 of 9 in the natural sciences, 11 of 13 in the social sciences, but only 8 of 15 in the humanities. Sex of the instructor was irrelevant, raising the question of whether female instructors as role models have the positive effect upon women students that has been claimed. The differences found were slight, but persistent. Both sexes predicted very high grades. The data suggest that sex differences in prediction were not based on a female sense of incompetence, but upon a greater willingness among males to make highly positive predictions.

Gender differences in the accuracy of self-evaluations of performance.

“…There were no gender differences in expectancies for the practical questions, anagrams, or the feminine task. This is in line with previous research showing that women do not hold higher expectancies than men even on feminine tasks (Carr et al, 1985; Cole, King, & Newcomb, 1977; Deaux & Farris, 1977; Garland & Smith, 1981; Gitelson et al, 1982; McMahan, 1982).…”

Student Grade Expectations at Technical College, 2-, and 4-Year Institutions

“…For first-year students and sophomores across institutional types, both genders indicated significantly higher grades for sophomore than first-year level courses. Whereas Cole and King (1977) found that men predicted higher grades for themselves than did women, in the current study investigating grades for the whole class there were no gender differences in expected grades for first-year level courses but women expected significantly higher grades for sophomores than men, and Tables 1 and 2 indicate that women generally expected higher grades for all course levels than did men. Because girls and women typically earn higher grades than boys and men in K-12 (Duckworth & Seligman, 2006) and college (Willingham & Cole, 1997), this might suggest that women's personal grade experiences lead to their expecting higher grades, or they may feel that students deserve higher grades (Gaultney & Cann, 2001) or be more optimistic about class grade distributions.…”

“…Instructors typically feel the grades they assign accurately reflect student performance and mastery of the material, but students often find that the grade they actually earn falls short of their expectations (Perlman & McCann, 2007; Prohaska, 1994; Wendorf, 2002). Svanum and Bigatti (2006) found that the majority of students overestimated their final course grade by an average of one letter grade, and men predict higher grades for themselves than do women (Cole & King, 1977). Such students may feel they did not receive the grade they expected because they often believe effort should count more toward grades, and that a superior effort requires fewer hours of work, than do faculty (Adams, 2005).…”

Expectations and achievement among third-, sixth-, and ninth-grade Black and White males and females.

“…Crandall (1969) conducted a series of studies demonstrating that girls of a variety of ages have generally lower expectancies of success than boys and that boys overestimate their successes, whereas girls underestimate theirs. Her results have subsequently been replicated and extended in a number of studies (Bar-Tal & Frieze, 1977;Cole, King, & Newcomb, 1977;Montanelli & Hill, 1969; McMahan, Note 1).…”