State of the Union 2018: Education

Despite common beliefs to the contrary, male students do not consistently outperform female students in mathematics. On average, males have a negligible lead in math in fourth grade, but that lead essentially disappears by eighth grade. This pattern shifts in high school. By age 17, there is a meaningful male advantage in math, approximately one-third of a grade level in 2012. In reading, female students consistently outperform male students from fourth grade through high school. In 2015, the male-female test score gap in fourth-grade reading was about half of a grade level, and in eighth grade it was even larger, at four-fifths of a grade level. At age 17, reading gaps persist at just over half a grade level. Although women attend college and graduate from college at higher rates than men, women are underrepresented in STEM majors and earn fewer STEM degrees. 

Reference Information

Author: 

Erin M. Fahle,
Sean F. Reardon
Publisher: 
Stanford Center on Poverty and Inequality
Publication Date: 
March 2018