ERIC Number: ED592239
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2018-Jun
Pages: 50
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-
EISSN: N/A
Gender Achievement Gaps in U.S. School Districts. CEPA Working Paper No. 18-13
Reardon, Sean F.; Fahle, Erin M.; Kalogrides, Demetra; Podolsky, Anne; Zárate, Rosalía C.
Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis
In the first systematic study of gender achievement gaps in U.S. school districts, we estimate male-female test score gaps in math and English Language Arts (ELA) for nearly 10,000 school districts in the U.S. We use state accountability test data from third through eighth grade students in the 2008-09 through 2014-15 school years. The average school district in our sample has no gender achievement gap in math, but a gap of roughly 0.23 standard deviations in ELA that favors girls. Both math and ELA gender achievement gaps vary among school districts and are positively correlated -- some districts have more male-favoring gaps and some more female-favoring gaps. We find that math gaps tend to favor males more in socioeconomically advantaged school districts and in districts with larger gender disparities in adult socioeconomic status. These two variables explain about one fifth of the variation in the math gaps. However, we find little or no association between the ELA gender gap and either socioeconomic variable, and we explain virtually none of the geographic variation in ELA gaps.
Descriptors: Gender Differences, Achievement Gap, Scores, Language Arts, Mathematics, Standardized Tests, Grade 3, Grade 4, Grade 5, Grade 6, Grade 7, Grade 8, School Districts, Socioeconomic Influences, Geographic Location, Sex Stereotypes, Parent Background, Educational Attainment, Employment Level, Poverty, Occupations
Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis. 520 Galvez Mall, CERAS Building, 5th Floor, Stanford, CA 94305. Tel: 650-736-1258; Fax: 650-723-9931; e-mail: contactcepa@stanford.edu; Web site: http://cepa.stanford.edu
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: Grade 3; Primary Education; Elementary Education; Early Childhood Education; Grade 4; Intermediate Grades; Grade 5; Middle Schools; Grade 6; Grade 7; Junior High Schools; Secondary Education; Grade 8
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: Institute of Education Sciences (ED); Spencer Foundation; William T. Grant Foundation
Authoring Institution: Stanford Center for Education Policy Analysis (CEPA)
IES Funded: Yes
Grant or Contract Numbers: R305D110018; R305B090016