Differences in achievement by gender
Do gender gaps in achievement exist in secondary school? The answer is yes and no. Two important distinctions are necessary to understand the landscape of achievement in secondary schools. First, it is necessary to distinguish the domain of science we are considering. We can distinguish easily between the achievement in the physical sciences (e.g. physics) and achievement in the natural sciences (e.g. biology). Second, it is necessary to distinguish the domain of achievement we are considering. We could consider achievement of in terms of science assessments (e.g. NAEP, TIMSS, or state- or district-level assessments), in terms of performance in science courses in school (e.g. GPA in science course), or in terms of the type of courses taken in school (e.g. advanced and AP courses). Looking at achievement on assessments first, there is evidence that boys perform better on standardized science assessments than girls (Xie et al., 2015). In a recent analysis of performance on ECLS-K:99 standardized science assessment, administered as a part of the nationally representative Early Childhood …show more content…
Advance course taking prepares students to enter into science-related major, placing them on a trajectory to careers in the sciences (Wang, 2013). Similar, but more notable, gender gaps are observed in course taking. Girls lag behind boys in advance physics course taking in high school, even as they have reached parity in advanced mathematics courses (Riegle-Crumb & Moore, 2013). The gender gap has remained consistent over the past 30 years, even as the number of students taking advanced science courses has increased overall (Riegle-Crumb & Moore, 2013; Xie et al., 2015). In contrast, girls are overrepresented in advanced biology course, again reflecting the differences in gender gaps by science domain (Xie et al.,
Do gender gaps in achievement exist in secondary school? The answer is yes and no. Two important distinctions are necessary to understand the landscape of achievement in secondary schools. First, it is necessary to distinguish the domain of science we are considering. We can distinguish easily between the achievement in the physical sciences (e.g. physics) and achievement in the natural sciences (e.g. biology). Second, it is necessary to distinguish the domain of achievement we are considering. We could consider achievement of in terms of science assessments (e.g. NAEP, TIMSS, or state- or district-level assessments), in terms of performance in science courses in school (e.g. GPA in science course), or in terms of the type of courses taken in school (e.g. advanced and AP courses). Looking at achievement on assessments first, there is evidence that boys perform better on standardized science assessments than girls (Xie et al., 2015). In a recent analysis of performance on ECLS-K:99 standardized science assessment, administered as a part of the nationally representative Early Childhood …show more content…
Advance course taking prepares students to enter into science-related major, placing them on a trajectory to careers in the sciences (Wang, 2013). Similar, but more notable, gender gaps are observed in course taking. Girls lag behind boys in advance physics course taking in high school, even as they have reached parity in advanced mathematics courses (Riegle-Crumb & Moore, 2013). The gender gap has remained consistent over the past 30 years, even as the number of students taking advanced science courses has increased overall (Riegle-Crumb & Moore, 2013; Xie et al., 2015). In contrast, girls are overrepresented in advanced biology course, again reflecting the differences in gender gaps by science domain (Xie et al.,