Valutare per comprendere le differenze di genere

Abstract

In Italy, as in many other countries, the gap between males’ and females’ performances in mathematics standardized tests is marked and in favor of the former. However, when looking at results in terms of school grades this gap does not appear or is even in favor of females. In this contribution we will reflect on the main factors that may influence the different performances of males and females in standardized tests, among them we will also consider metacognitive aspects and factors related to the beliefs of teachers, parents and students with respect to mathematics. The results of a questionnaire proposed to more than 500 teachers from different school grades revealed the role of teachers’ beliefs in relation to gender differences and allowed us to interpret the present gap in terms of school evaluations in terms of beliefs as well.