Association for Public Policy Analysis & Management

Panel: Insights into Gender Disparities in Achievement, Attitudes Toward STEM Fields and Ultimate STEM Pursuit

(Education)

Gender disparities in achievement and STEM pursuit is the overall focus of this panel. Building on recent contributions in the field by Autor et al. (2016), Chetty (2016), Bertrand and Pan (2013), Fryer and Levitt (2010) amongst others, the papers in this group provide new insights into systematic gender differences in achievement and attitudes towards math and science. The papers inform efforts by policy makers to increase the number of girls excelling in math and science and entering the STEM workforce. The first paper uses Common Core data to document notable variation in gender gaps amongst students in both quantitative and language skills across approximately 9,500 school districts. The other two papers conduct analysis using the High School Longitudinal Study (HSLS) a nationally representative survey of over 20,000 students across 944 schools. One explores the interplay between socioeconomic status (SES), math achievement, and math identity. The other explores students, teachers, and parents’ perceptions of gender disparities in math and science capabilities.

Are there characteristics that can predict which school districts will have larger gender based disparities? Apparently yes—the first paper finds evidence of variation in the size (and direction, in the case of math) of gender achievement gaps. Using measures of school district SES based on Common Core of Data and School District Demographics System, they find that gender gaps favor male students more in school districts in which there are larger gender disparities in SES among adults. They also find that gender gaps follow a more “stereotypical” pattern—with male students outperforming female students in math, and females substantially outperforming males in English Language Arts—in more socioeconomically advantaged school districts.

The first HSLS paper explores similar questions about the relationship between SES, math identity, and math achievement using individual-level data. Consistent with the analysis of district-level gender gaps, boys have a stronger associated relationship between SES and math scores—however, this gender difference in the relationship looks more pronounced in private schools. The relationship between SES and math identification demonstrates gendered patterns as well. Private school attending girls exhibit little relationship between SES and math identification, while private school attending boys exhibit a strong positive relationship between socioeconomic background and math identification.

The other HSLS based paper finds perceived own gender ability to excel in math and science appears to diverge somewhat during high school. Early in high school, males were generally more likely than females to hold positive opinions about males’ math and science capabilities, while females were more likely than males to hold positive opinions about females’ math and science capabilities. Similar patterns were observed at grade 11. However, male students’ attitudes were more positive about males’ general capabilities in math and science in the 11th grade than they were in the 9th grade, while female students were less positive about females’ general math and science capabilities in the 11th grade than they were in the 9th grade.