Why So Few? High School Foundation II

The 2010 report entitled, Why So Few? Women in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics, by the American Association of University Women (AAUW), reviews GPAs and high-stakes testing. The graph above shows students’ average GPA in high school math and science combined over time, by gender. High school girls now also earn higher GPAs in math and science, on average, than their male peers do. It is also important to note that average GPAs in math and science for all students are improving over time.

Girls’ participation and performance on high-stakes tests in high school are also improving over time, although boys are more likely to take these tests and perform better than girls on average. For example, more students - both girls and boys - are taking AP exams over time. Girls are less likely to take the AP exams in STEM subjects such as calculus, physics, computer science, statistics, and chemistry, but high school girls are more likely to take the AP exam in biology and environmental science compared with boys. Additionally, as this graph shows, on average, boys perform better than girls do on AP tests in math and science. The graph above shows the average scores on Advanced Placement tests in math and science subjects by gender in 2009.

Note: much of this text is from the AAUW ppt describing highlights of the Why So Few? report.