Higher weights on assessments shrank, but did not eliminate, the gender difference in final grades, because young women were more often in classes weighting assessments heavily¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study · associational r2 · q2
Currency · newest study 2023 · checked against its sources 2026-10-20 (automated, 1 of 1 entry) · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Because young women disproportionately took geometry and honors classes that weighted assessments more heavily, their grades were lower than they would have been in algebra and regular classes, shrinking a potentially larger gender-grades difference. → Easton 2023

Evidence¶

Easton 2023¶

Easton, J.Q. & Diaz, B. (2023). Lasting differences: Math grades and gender. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Consortium on School Research. https://consortium.uchicago.edu/publications/lasting-differences

q2 · i? · associational · r2

Interpretive synthesis in the RQ2d section of the Gradebook weighting analyses, tying together the placement (Table 2), unweighted (Figure 6), and weighted (Figure 7) findings. The report concludes placement and weighting "played a small and complex role in gender differences in final grades."

"Ultimately, young women took more advanced classes (geometry and honors) and their grades were lower than they would've been if they'd taken algebra and regular classes, effectively shrinking a potentially larger gender-grades difference."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

• Gender — predictor: outcomes differ by group: a gap reflecting circumstances and treatment, not a cause

Related Claims¶

• Systematic racial, ethnic and gender differences in grades persist among students with the same test scores, attendance, courses and teachers — the general claim this finding bears on, with the studies behind it
• Differential course placement gave young men and women different grading category weights, with young women more often in honors and geometry — related
• Gender differences in assessment points earned remained small but statistically significant after controlling for math course type and level — related
• Young women outperformed young men in every grading category family in unweighted points, with the largest gap in assignments and smallest in assessments; weighting reversed this ordering — related
• In CPS ninth-grade math sections using mastery-based or weekly grading, those categories determined nearly all of the final grade; otherwise assessments carried the highest weight, with a median of 60 percent exceeding the CPS/CTU 50 percent recommendation — related
• Class conditions—period, term, class size and subject—systematically shift grades, largely through attendance — related
• Women score lower than men in high-stakes final exams across advanced undergraduate STEM courses, with mean differences of 2.5 to ~7 points on a 100-point scale
• High-school grades do not capture the preparation gap: controlling for high-school scores did not eliminate the gap, possibly due to a ceiling effect — related
• Prior achievement, attendance, and suspensions do not explain the gender difference in ninth-grade math grades — related