Tracking Cross-State Gender Gap Trajectory in NAEP Assessments with Dynamic Time Warping Methods

• In Event: Deeper Insights Through NAEP Innovation

Abstract

Educational assessment plays an integral role in identifying educational disparities and driving policy decisions aimed at improving academic outcomes. Among these disparities, the gender gap remains a significant point of concern. In this study, we tracked the changes of NAEP assessment scores by gender in the past two decades across 50 states in the United States in Grade 4 and Grade 8 per math and reading subject. The study aims to leverage the rich dataset provided by NAEP with the sequence mining method (Dynamic Time Warping) to reveal underlying patterns in the gender gap across states, thereby contributing valuable insights to the education policy.

Author

• Qiwei He, Georgetown University