• created the Office of Gender Equity in the Department of Education
  
• improved data gathering about gender equity
  
• created teacher training programs
  
• created programs that encourage females to pursue math and science
  
• created programs for girls of color

What Should Be Done?: Suggestions For Promoting Gender Equity in the Classroom
*Teachers' Knowledge Is What Makes The Difference (WW-GEMS 1993, p. 119.) The most important step in promoting gender equity in the classroom is education. Teachers and administrators must become educated to the fact that gender bias does indeed occur in America's classrooms. Once they have recognized this, they must take conscious steps to eliminate practices and patterns of instruction that lead to inequities in the classroom. Schools must also focus on eliminating gender biased curricula and textbooks.

* Some Tips For Teachers (taken from WW-GEMS, 1993, p. 127-129)

• different approaches in instructing females versus males may need to be taken
  
• make an effort to call on females as often as males
  
• hold high expectations for both males and females
  
• give females equal amounts of help and feedback (be sure that the feedback is substantive)
  
• try to incorporate students' own experiences into lessons (make lessons more fun and attractive for students)
  
• try group activities-many researchers have found that boys and girls thrive under different classroom conditions. Most females learn "more readily in cooperative situations"(WW-GEMS), while boys seem to prefer more competitive situations. Johnson and Engelhard (1991) also found that more successful students prefer to work under competitive conditions while less successful children prefer to work in cooperative settings.
  
• allow at least four or five seconds of wait time for both male and female students
  
• provide female role models
  
• do not ignore female students to talk to or listen to male students-both male and female students deserve equal amounts of attention

* Parents and teachers must encourage female students to succeed in the classroom, especially in math and sciences. Without encouragement and support from parents and teachers, female students may continue to shy away from math and science classes and consequently any profession that might be based upon math and/or sciences.

* Encourage Female Students To Be Risk Takers * Parents and Teachers Must Teach Females To Value Themselves, Both As Students and Individuals

* Single Sex Schooling