Gender Gaps in Mathematics and the Local Social Context

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 33
  In Roundtable Session: Gender in the Classroom

Abstract

Using data from the National Study of Learning Mindsets, this study examines how gender differences in fundamental mathematics motivations (growth mindset, anxiety, and confidence) vary between high schools and examines what school factors are associated with these differences. We find gender differences for each of the mathematics orientations favor male students (approximately .1 standard deviations for confidence and mindset, and .4 standard deviations for anxiety). However, these gender gaps differ significantly across schools indicating there are some schools with gender parity in the mindset and confidence orientations as well as schools with twice the mean gap. Preliminary analyses indicate no evidence that these differences are systematically related to standard school contextual measures such as mean achievement and racial/class composition

Authors

• Jenny Buontempo

• Paul Hanselman, University of California - Irvine