Book Description

This report presents a comprehensive look at girls' educational achievement during the past 35 years, paying special attention to the relationship between girls' and boys' progress. Analyses of results from national standardized tests, such as the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the SAT and ACT college entrance examinations, as well as other measures of educational achievement, provide an overall picture of trends in gender equity from elementary school to college and beyond. Differences among girls and among boys by race/ ethnicity and family income level are evaluated. Together these analyses support three overarching facts about gender equity in schools today: (1) Girls' successes don't come at boys' expense; (2) girls' and boys' educational performance has improved; and (3) understanding disparities by race/ethnicity and family income level is critical to understanding girls' and boys' achievement. The report finds that many girls as well as boys are not acquiring the educational skills needed to succeed in the 21st-century economy. The report dispels the myth of a boys' crisis and calls for a refocused public debate on the deep divisions among schoolchildren by race/ethnicity and family income level. This report illustrates that while educational trends for both girls and boys are generally positive, disparities by race/ethnicity and family income level exist and are critical to understanding the landscape of education in America today. Two appendixes include: (1) NAEP Supplementary Figures; and (2) SAT and ACT Supplementary Figures. (Contains 59 figures and 25 footnotes.) [Funding for this publication was provided by Lilo and Gerard Leeds and the Mooneen Lecce Giving Circle. For the Executive Summary, see ED501320.].