Gender Differences in School Achievement

Reviewers have consistently concluded that males perform better on mathematics tests than females do (Hyde, Fennema & Lamon, 1990). The authors performed a meta-analysis of 100 studies which represented the testing of 3,175,188 subjects (p. 139). An examination of age trends indicated that girls showed a slight superiority in computation in elementary school and middle school. There were no gender differences in problem solving in elementary or middle school, but differences favoring males emerged in high school and in college. Gender differences were smallest and actually favored females in samples of the general population, grew larger with increasingly selective samples, and were largest for highly selected samples and samples of highly precocious persons. They showed that the magnitude of gender differences has declined over the years. The authors concluded that gender differences in mathematics performance are small, but nonetheles

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They suggested that public attitudes perpetuate stereotypes that girls really can't do math and that math is unfeminine. Looking specifically at mathematics achievement, Terwilliger and Titus (1995) studied participants in the University of Minnesota Talented Youth Mathematics Program to determine gender differences of mathematically talented youth on attitudinal measures related to interest, motivation, confidence, readiness, support, priorities, and stereotypes. Males showed significantly higher levels of motivation, confidence, and interest in mathematics than females. Despite the effects of the program staff to provide a supportive, encouraging atmosphere for females, gender differences increased over the two-year period. Specifically, females' enthusiasm decreased over that time, possibly as a result of peer pressure and competition from emerging extracurricular and social interests. Ramos and Lambating (1996) examined females' reluctance and males' tendency to be risk-takers. They suggest that males' tendencies to take more risks might explain their higher mathematics achievement. They documented females' reluctance to guess on multiple choice tests, as well as their tendency to skip more difficult questions, regardle
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Approximate Word count = 1615
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page)

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