The Intersection

The Intersection Webinar Recap: Stanford University’s Center for Education Policy Analysis

August 3, 2018

Our thanks to Dr. Erin Fahle, Assistant Professor at St. Johns University and researcher at Stanford University’s Center for Education Policy Analysis for presenting on this week’s The Intersection: A Biweekly Education Policy Conversation. Erin joined us to discuss her recent paper entitled Gender Achievement Gaps in U.S. School Districts.

Key Takeaways:

  • Stereotypical Gender Advantages Exist | On average, U.S. gender achievement gaps result in males performing better in math and females performing better in English Language Arts (ELA).  However, the female-favoring advantage in ELA is substantially larger than the male-favoring advantage in math.
  • Local Context Matters | Student performance trends across districts indicate that local context plays a significant role in achievement disparities by gender. The results indicate that:
    • More affluent districts tend to have a wider male-favoring gap in math.
    • The male-favoring math achievement gap tends to be wider in districts with larger male-female SES disparities in the adult population.
    • Districts with more African American students tend to have larger female-favoring gaps in both math and ELA.
  • More Research is Needed |  This research has established that clear gender achievement gaps exist across U.S. school districts, however, additional targeted research is needed to fully understand the underlying causes of these disparities.
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For more on our conversation with Erin, check out the full webinar below!

We hope you’ll join us for our next webinar on Wednesday, August 15th at 1pm (EST). We look forward to talking with David Griffith from the Thomas B. Fordham Institute. David will join us to discuss his new report Reading and Writing Instruction in America’s Schools.

Stay tuned and follow us on Twitter for updates. 

See you at the Intersection,

The Hunt Team

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