School Context and the Gender Gap in Educational Achievement

Abstract

and the 2010 RC28 conference in Haifa, Israel for helpful comments and suggestions. We thank the Institut zur Qualitätsentwicklung im Bildungswesen (IQB) for providing access to the data and Prof. Rainer Lehmann for his help with the ELEMENT data.

School context and gender differences in mathematical performance among school graduates in Russia

“…In a recent and more methodologically rigorous quasi-experimental study, Legewie and DiPrete (2012) found a similar effect with the data on socio-economic composition and reading test scores of pupils in some elementary and upper-secondary schools in Berlin. Generally, girls did better in reading than boys.…”

“…Second, we look at the school-level correlates of the gender gap in math, such as school location, type and size. Following previous studies (Entwisle et al, 1994;Legewie and DiPrete, 2012), we hypothesize that the size of the gap may vary across schools with different characteristics. In particular, boys may do comparatively better in more academically oriented schools, with a more socially privileged student body.…”

“…Legewie and DiPrete (2012) demonstrated a causal effect of the classroom's average socio-economic status on the gender gap in reading performance. In classes with a higher average socio-economic status of students the advantage of girls in reading test scores was smaller (also see Cahan et al, 2014;Entwisle et al, 2007).…”

Demographic and psychological predictors of grade point average (GPA) in North-Norway: a particular analysis of cognitive/school-related and literacy problems

“…Several reasons for this gender gap in achievement are suggested, including home and school/classroom environment, socio-economic factors, peer culture, gender differences in attitudes towards school work (Warrington, Younger, & Williams, 2000), and degree of selfdiscipline (Duckworth & Seligman, 2006). Consequences are a higher degree of special education and higher dropout rates among men (Legewie & DiPrete, 2012), which lead to a range of possible negative concerns related to work status, income, behaviour, and quality of life (Belfield & Levin, 2007).…”

How to Engage in Pseudoscience With Real Data: A Criticism of John Hattie’s Arguments in Visible Learning From the Perspective of a Statistician

“…If this number was representative of any sort of reality, this would mean that boys are on average a little more successful in school than girls. This is not the case in Quebec nor in most industrialized countries (Legewie & DiPrete, 2012). …”