State Test Score Trends Through 2007-08, Part 5: Are There Differences in Achievement Between Boys and Girls?

The study, conducted by the Center on Education Policy, examines gender achievement gaps based on state school assessment data from 2007-2008. It finds that boys and girls perform similarly in math, but boys lag behind in reading.

From 2007-2008, gender gaps in elementary school reading widened in 14 states, but narrowed in 24 others. But in some states, the number of boys with proficient reading levels is more than 10 percent below that of girls -- a trend that is consistent across elementary, middle and high school levels. The number of states in which girls outperformed boys in performing proficiently in math was roughly equal to the number of states in which boys outperformed girls.

The study also analyzes assessment datain regard to the 2002 enactment of the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). It finds that both boys and girls have made progress since 2002, yet more girls than boys reached all three achievement levels -- basic, proficient and advanced -- in 2008.

The study includes data for all 50 states and is the fifth in a 2009-10 series of CEP reports on student achievement results.

Read the report.