The Gender Gap in Secondary School Mathematics at High Achievement Levels: Evidence from the American Mathematics Competitions / Glenn Ellison, Ashley Swanson.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ellison, Glenn.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Swanson, Ashley.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w15238.

NBER working paper series no. w15238

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

The Gender Gap in Secondary School Mathematics at High Achievement Levels

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2009.

Summary:

This paper uses a new data source, American Mathematics Competitions, to examine the gender gap among high school students at very high achievement levels. The data bring out several new facts. There is a large gender gap that widens dramatically at percentiles above those that can be examined using standard data sources. An analysis of unobserved heterogeneity indicates that there is only moderate variation in the gender gap across schools. The highest achieving girls in the U.S. are concentrated in a very small set of elite schools, suggesting that almost all girls with the ability to reach high math achievement levels are not doing so.

Notes:

Print version record

August 2009.