Prior achievement, attendance, and suspensions do not explain the gender difference in ninth-grade math grades¶

Claim · All claims
Evidence · 1 study (2 entries) · associational r2–r3 · q2
Currency · newest study 2023 · not yet checked against its sources · not reviewed by a person

Subclaims¶

q2 i? Young women scored 0.27 standard deviation units above young men in ninth-grade math grades, and controlling for prior test scores, attendance, and suspensions left the difference essentially unchanged. → 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 · r3

Regression analysis of CPS administrative data for 29,229 students comparing young men and women with the same prior test scores, attendance, and suspensions. The unadjusted gap was "0.27 standard deviation units above young men in ninth-grade math classes."

"Young women scored 0.27 standard deviation units above young men in ninth-grade math classes (equivalent to 0.30 of a grade point)."

Easton 2023 (2)¶

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

The report states that after these comparisons "the difference after these comparisons was not statistically significantly different from the original difference," with regression outputs in Appendix Table A.4.

"Yet when we used statistical techniques to compare young women and young men who had the same rates of prior test scores, attendance, and out-of-school suspensions, young women still had higher math grades."

Discussion¶

Learner Variables¶

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

Related Claims¶

• Gender differences in assessment points earned remained small but statistically significant after controlling for math course type and level — related
• Gender differences in ninth-grade math grades were similar across racial/ethnic groups, with young men earning fewer points in every group — related
• Differential course placement gave young men and women different grading category weights, with young women more often in honors and geometry — 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
• Student self-reports of effort, social well-being, and math instruction do not explain the gender grade difference — related
• Systematic racial, ethnic and gender differences in grades persist among students with the same test scores, attendance, courses and teachers — related
• 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 — related
• Girls score lower than boys on timed standardized math and science tests at the same course level, and SAT math scores underpredict women's college math performance — related