# _4.1.3 Additional contextual information for grades 4 and 8 (NALO 2018)_

All of the differences between boys and girls in grades 4 and 8 noted in this section are statistically significant at the p < .001 level. However, the effect sizes associated with these differences were generally small (appendix A1). NALO data indicate that 14.5 percent of grade 4 boys had repeated a year at school because of poor academic performance, compared to 6.6 percent of grade 4 girls (table A1.1). In addition, grade 4 boys reported engaging in a lower level of reading than grade 4 girls. For example, 22.6 percent of boys reported never having read a book, compared to 12.0 percent of girls. Conversely, 33.8 percent of boys have read more than 10 books, compared to 40.4 percent of girls. However, when asked whether mathematics is important in life, grade 4 boys and girls provided broadly similar levels of agreement (table A1.1). Among grade 4 immigrant students (those reported by their parents to have been born outside Saudi Arabia), boys were more likely to attend a private school (13.9 percent) than girls (2.6 percent) (table A1.2). However, the vast majority of both boys (85.0 percent) and girls (95.2 percent) attended government schools.

NALO data also show the differences in perceptions among teachers, school principals, and parents in boys’ and girls’ schools. Teachers of grade 4 boys are substantially less likely to agree that parents have a good understanding of their child’s current academic level, suggesting greater misalignment between student performance and parental understanding in boys’ schools compared to girls’ schools. This difference was associated with the largest effect size observed among all the selected NALO variables ( _φ_ = .302; table A1.3). Teachers in boys’ schools are also less likely to report that highachieving students were respected among their peers compared to teachers in girls’ schools (table A1.3). School principals’ reports correspond with those of their teachers in relation to parental support for learning. Principals of girls’ schools report a higher degree of parental support for learning than those in boys’ schools, and also a higher degree of satisfaction among parents with their child’s educational progress (table A1.4). More grade 4 boys (67.3 percent) have access to a school library from which they can borrow compared to grade 4 girls (48.5 percent), despite girls reporting reading more books, as noted above.

Similar to grade 4, boys in grade 8 are more likely (6.9 percent) than girls (4.5 percent) to report having repeated a year at school because of poor academic performance (table A1.1). However, both in absolute and in relative terms, the differences are smaller at grade 8 than grade 4. In terms of reading behavior, grade 8 boys report a more nuanced pattern than seen at grade 4. As at the lower grade, more boys (30.6 percent) than girls (19.3 percent) report never having read a book. However, boys and girls are equally likely to report having read more than six or more than 10 books. Another difference from students’ responses at grade 4 is that, in grade 8, boys agree more strongly that mathematics is important in life relative to their female peers (47.6 percent of boys agreeing a lot compared to 36.3 percent of girls). Among immigrant students, grade 8 boys were much more likely to attend a private school (11.1 percent) than grade 8 girls (2.7 percent) (table A1.2). Nonetheless, as at grade 4, most boys (87.7 percent) and girls (96.3 percent) attended government schools.

Again, similar to grade 4, NALO data for grade 8 show the differences in perceptions among teachers, school principals, and parents in boys’ and girls’ schools. A substantially lower proportion of teachers of grade 8 boys agree that parents have a good understanding of their child’s current academic level (associated with the second-largest effect size observed: _φ_ = .236; table A1.3). Similar to grade 4, this suggests greater misalignment between student performance and parental understanding among parents in boys’ schools. A lower level of respect for students who achieve at a high academic level is reported in boys’ schools, although teachers in boys’ schools are slightly more likely to view their grade 8 students as always being keen to excel academically. School principals report weaker parental support for learning for grade 8 boys than for grade 8 girls (table A1.4), and that boys’ parents’ expectations are being met to a lesser extent. There is little difference in grade 8 boys’ and girls’ access to a school library from which they can borrow books.

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