Eric.ed.gov – Gender Equity in High School Math: A Study of Female Participation and Achievement.

This survey of 316 Precalculus, Calculus AB, and Calculus BC students from markedly different socioeconomic levels in four district high schools in San Antonio, Texas, looked at factors that have traditionally caused women to avoid mathematics, and attempted to discover which of them continue to influence women’s decisions to reject the discipline. The questionnaire contained 25 questions based on assumptions drawn from literature on the subject. Reported and discussed are all differences in gender opinion above 9 percentage points, even though a difference of 11.4 percentage points would begin to indicate a statistically significant result. Findings where such differences occur showed that: (1) mathematics enrollment favored men, especially in BC Calculus; (2) female respondents more frequently perceived no bias in teacher expectations; (3) female students less frequently thought that the gender of their mathematics teacher had any effect on their learning; (4) males rated mathematics as more useful and having practical value in earning a living than females; (5) males more frequently strongly agreed that they were confident about doing well in the next math courses; and (6) male students more frequently agreed that their gender had greater aptitude for math. These findings regarding confidence are dramatic, since women’s grades in all three classes averaged the same or higher than male counterparts. It is concluded that adult influences have come far in rejecting old biases, but that students’ self-concepts appear to be deeply entrenched. (MDH)