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18 Feb 2015
Brief

Gender Differences in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) Interest, Credits Earned, and NAEP Performance in the 12th Grade

Brittany Cunningham, AIR
Kathleen Mulvaney Hoyer and Dinah Sparks, Activate Research, Inc.

As technical and scientific innovation continue to drive the global economy, educators, policymakers, and scientists seek to promote students’ interest and achievement in the STEM fields to maintain the nation’s competitive positions. Many researchers have studied differences in male and female students’ attitudes toward and performance in STEM courses and assessments. While some research shows that gaps in male and female performance on STEM-related assessments have narrowed or even closed, other research continues to report gender differences in student affective dispositions (i.e., interest) toward mathematics and science, as well as differences in student performance in mathematics and science, especially in math-intensive science fields.

This Statistics in Brief describes high school graduates’ attitudes toward STEM courses (specifically, mathematics and science), credits earned in STEM fields, and performance on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) mathematics and science assessments in 2009.

Key Findings

  • In 2009, compared to males, lower percentages of female high school graduates reported that they liked mathematics or science and that mathematics or science was one of their favorite subjects.
  • Compared to males, higher percentages of female 2009 high school graduates took algebra II, precalculus, advanced biology, chemistry, and health science/technology courses.
  • Generally, among 2009 high school graduates who had earned credits in specific mathematics and science courses, males had higher average NAEP mathematics and NAEP science scale scores than females.
Gender Differences in STEM Interest, Credits Earned, and NAEP Performance in the 12th Grade

Related Work

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Exploring Gender Imbalance Among STEM Doctoral Degree Recipients

Gender imbalance in doctoral education in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields raises important questions about the extent to which women experience differential access, encouragement, and opportunity for academic advancement. In the STEM field, animal sciences and mathematics had far more men earning doctorates while forestry, information science/studies and three categories of engineering had more women.
Topic: 
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6 Mar 2014
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Early Academic Career Pathways in STEM: Do Gender and Family Status Matter?

Women with STEM Ph.D.’s are likelier to start their careers in academia, but their male peers get more of the faculty appointments at research institutions, according to a new analysis that explores the impact gender and family may have on the careers of these new graduates.

Topic: 
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Further Reading

  • Broadening Participation in STEM
  • The Nonacademic Careers of STEM Ph.D. Holders
  • Leaving STEM: STEM Ph.D. Holders in Non-STEM Careers
  • Analyzing the Research on Gender Stereotypes in STEM
  • STEM Training and Early Career Outcomes of Female and Male Graduate Students: Evidence from UMETRICS Data Linked to the 2010 Census
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