The Development of Gender Achievement Gaps in Mathematics and Reading During Elementary and Middle School: Examining Direct Cognitive Assessments and Teacher Ratings

• Published in: American educational research journal Vol. 48; no. 2; pp. 268 - 302
• Main Authors: Robinson, Joseph Paul, Lubienski, Sarah Theule
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Los Angeles, CA SAGE Publications 01.04.2011; American Educational Research Association
• Subjects: Academic Achievement; Academic achievement gaps; Achievement Gap; Age Differences; Cognitive Ability; Early Childhood Longitudinal Survey; Educational research; Elementary School Students; Females; Gender; Gender Differences; Kindergarten education; Males; Mathematics; Mathematics Achievement; Mathematics education; Mathematics teachers; Middle School Students; Middle schools; Reading; Reading Achievement; Secondary school mathematics; Social and Institutional Analysis; Teacher Expectations of Students; Teachers; Womens studies; distributional analysis; achievement gaps; gender; metric-free gap analysis; teacher ratings; longitudinal data
• ISSN: 0002-8312; 1935-1011
• DOI: 10.3102/0002831210372249

Using K–8 national longitudinal data, the authors investigate males' and females' achievement in math and reading, including when gender gaps first appear, whether the appearance of gaps depends on the metric used, and where on the achievement distribution gaps are most prevalent. Additionally, teachers' assessments of males and females are compared. The authors find no math gender gap in kindergarten, except at the top of the distribution; however, females throughout the distribution lose ground in elementary school and regain some in middle school. In reading, gaps favoring females generally narrow but widen among low-achieving students. However, teachers consistently rate females higher than males in both subjects, even when cognitive assessments suggest that males have an advantage. Implications for policy and further research are discussed.