This post was written by guest blogger Sally Reid, whose name is similar but not identical to mine, and whose skill set is vastly different! She has taught mathematics at girls’ schools for many years, and now teaches at Dana Hall School, (longtime NCGS member) in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

A study recently published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that female elementary school teachers who suffered from math anxiety could instill negative gender-biased stereotypes in the girls they teach.  Really? Now that’s not good! From my own personal experience (not statistically significant, I know) as a young girl it never occurred to me that boys could be better in math than girls, never mind that they actually were.  Maybe my teachers suffered no math unease, or maybe I simply just loved math no matter what, or maybe my parents both valued math as much as they valued reading and made that quite obvious at home.  As a young student, the only thing I objected to was a boring teacher or one who was unfair.  I don’t remember any who demonstrated angst of any sort; perhaps they hid it well.  But, let’s assume for a minute that the research is conclusive and that there really are girls out there identifying with their overly math-anxious female teachers to the detriment of their mathematical future.

To use math terminology, success and confidence are directly proportional.  One of the most loved and competent teachers I have ever known taught first grade for over thirty years.  When asked to identify the most profound indicator of student success she replied, “It is amazing to see what kids can do when they think they can, compared to what they can do when they think they can’t.” How true this is for all of us.  I received phone calls from two of my sons last week; both had just started up new courses, one an undergraduate -level mathematics course and the other a graduate-level course about security in the Middle East.  Both guys remarked that their professors were fabulous, and went on to explain that what made these men so extraordinary was their robust, self-assured delivery, which made them absolutely convincing.  Confidence matters!

So what about math education for girls?  Girls need confident, competent women around them every day from the time they first set foot in a school building.  We have come a long way in our understanding of math anxiety, girls and math, and gender differences in learning, but we must still have a way to go if this research is accurate.  I send a big thank you to every elementary school teacher for helping our girls build the foundation they need to succeed in this modern, technical world.

And, for those teachers who are anxious when arithmetic time rolls around, I encourage you to do something about it.  Like your own students, you must be confident about what you do to be the best you can be for the kids.  If this means diving into another math class at the local university, do it.  If it means signing up for a summer math program for educators, do it.  You owe it to yourself and to the girls you teach.

For the parents out there, look for signs that your girls are losing confidence in their math ability and address it.  If you, yourself, disliked math in school or thought you were terrible at it, consider keeping that to yourself (let’s face it, you don’t tell them everything you think or did).  Don’t give girls license to dislike math, don’t let them think it is only for boys, and don’t let them fall behind.  The National Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM http://www.stemedcoalition.org/) initiative is funding programs in our schools across the country to promote these fields; the premise being that we cannot compete as a nation unless we produce top-thinkers in these disciplines.  Now, more than ever, we need the female perspective in design and research.

Girls deserve a solid mathematical foundation.  As a math teacher at an all girls’ school in Massachusetts, I see first-hand that a single-sex environment could be the answer for many of our students.  Here the best math student is a girl, the most outspoken math student is a girl, and all of the kids in the BC Calculus class are girls.  But, for a typical young woman in high school, the boy sitting next to her in math class can influence her in ways I won’t even begin to address.  The bottom line:  If she has a strong foundation and believes in herself, she’ll have what it takes to succeed in mathematics and the future will be a better one for all of us.  Let’s do what we can to make sure this happens.

—Sally Reid