News on the math gap

We interrupt these long essays on religious belief to bring you a tidbit of news about math education!

Back at the beginning of the month, the MIT News Office reported on a recent paper by economics professor Glenn Ellison and econ PhD student Ashley Swanson regarding the gender gap in math performance. Their research showed “not only that girls are a small minority of elite high school math students, but also that the prevalence of high-achieving girls in math varies from school to school.” It’s a very interesting result.

This extreme concentration of talent strongly indicates the crucial role that environmental factors, not just innate ability, play in shaping the accomplishments of students. “It’s significant that the top girls are coming from a very, very small subset of schools with strong math programs,” says Ellison. “That suggests most of the girls who could be doing well, aren’t doing well. The thousands and thousands of other schools in the United States must have a lot of talent, too, but it’s not coming out.”

I’m really happy about this work because so much of the dialogue about gender disparity in STEM fields centers around anecdotes, or on assertions of trends which, while convincing, are still assertions. And I think that’s part of why it’s still such a contentious issue. If we’re ever going to reach a consensus about the extent of the problem and what, if anything, should be done about it, we need to roll up our sleeves and crunch some numbers. (And okay, I’ll admit, I’m also happy about this paper because it makes me feel a little more secure about not having done so well on the AMC back in high school.)

There’s a PDF of the paper online, so give that a read if you’re interested in more details.

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November 28, 2009 · Written by
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