Girls especially need math teachers who know their stuff

Here’s something interesting.

Education Week is reporting (subscription?) on a new study that says elementary school age females get hurt in math if they are taught by a female teacher who isn’t strong in math.

In notable contrast, girls actually do better than boys when their female math teacher knows her stuff.

A strange finding that raises all sorts of interesting gender issues in the report is that elementary school boys taught by a female teacher weak in math don’t seem to be so adversely impacted as the girls.

Apparently, male math teachers who are not so well versed in math don’t have the same negative impact on either boys or girls.

Bottom line: kids are better off if teacher knows math, and since a strong majority of elementary school teachers are female, this is an important issue for almost every student.