According to the National Center for Education Statistics's 2008 study, boys are making improvements in literacy and mathematics across age groups. Yet this growth in achievement is not affecting the gap in achievement between boys and girls. In mathematics the statistics between male and female students were competitive, though there was not much change in the gender gap. "While there was no significant difference in the average mathematics scores for male and female 9-year olds in 2008, male students did score higher than female students at ages 13 and 17. At age 13, the male – female gap in 2008 was not significantly different when compared to 2004 but was larger than in 1973. At age 17, the gender score gap in 2008 was not significantly different from the gaps in previous assessment years." In Literacy the gap was more noticable. "Across all three age groups,female students continued to score higher on average in reading than male students in 2008. At age 9, the 7-point gap in 2008 was not significantly different from the gap in 2004 but was narrower than the gap in 1971. The 8-point gender gap for 13-year-olds in 2008 was not significantly different from the gaps in either 2004 or in 1971. At age 17, the 11-point gap in 2008 was not signi cantly different from the gaps in any of the previous assessment years."
Sources:
Perie, M. (2010). NAEP 2008 Trends in Academic Progress. US Department of
Education.
Salahu-Din, Debra (2008). The Nation's Report Card: Writing 2007. US
Department of Education.
I am not sure what I am to take away from this post. There is a gender gap in math, with boys scoring higher than girls and there is a gender gap in literacy with girls scoring higher than boys. Is this right?
ReplyDeleteYes that is right. The history shows the gap growing in literacy, and girls are closing the gap in math.
ReplyDelete