Gender+and+Achievement

Gender and Achievement

The percentage of public high school students taking high-level math and science courses in 2000 compared by gender. (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2000 High School Transcript Study)

The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)’s most recent report on educational equity was published in 2004. By most measures of the 2004 report, female and male students have access to similar educational opportunities, take advantage of those opportunities, and have similar educational outcomes. While in elementary and high school, female students outperform males in reading and writing assessments. The results of mathematic assessments portrayed little to no gender disparity. While male students are more likely to take physics, female students are enrolled in other high-level math and science courses in equal numbers to their male counterparts. In college majors, males are more likely to obtain degrees in computer science, physics and engineering while female students still dominate lower paying fields like education. In the job market, females continue to earn less than males with similar educational attainment, however this gap has been narrowing over the past thirty years.

The percentage of bachelor degrees female college students earned in various disciplines in 1969-1970 and 2000-2001. (US Department of Education, “Degrees and Other Formal Awards Conferred Survey")