Mathématique USA

Voilà une narration qui n'est pas abordée par les médias traditionnels, trop préoccupée à défendre l'idéologie féministe. Vous trouverez dans ces articles le décrochage des garçons, notamment en maths. Nous sommes contre la façon de faire féministe, y compris pour l'éducation nationale. Changer l'idéologie, certains comportements, soutien, évaluation, barème, épreuve, partenariat, sorties scolaires, programme, littérature est plus important qu'imposer une parité des professeurs pour être conforme à la construction sociétale féministe.

https://gibm.substack.com/p/americas-reading-and-math-gaps?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=353975&post_id=139784449&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=18qchh&triedRedirect=true

But after looking at the scores of 8th grade students who were proficient and advanced in reading and math, it was clear that girls are doing considerably better than boys overall. The percentage of girls scoring proficient and advanced in reading post-COVID (34%) was still higher than boys pre-COVID (28%) and post-COVID (27%) nationally. Prior to the pandemic, 39% of girls were proficient or advanced in reading, an 11% reading gap for boys.

Although the girls reading scores dropped more than boys from 2019 to 2022, there scores were still higher, as boys fared worse in reading than girls by significant and extreme margins. And when it comes to math scores, there is essentially no difference in boys’ and girls’ outcomes.

“By virtually every measure, girls are thriving in school; it is boys who are the second sex,” said Christina Hoff Sommers (author of the War Against Boys) in an Atlantic article back in 2000.

And by nearly every measure, much has not changed since 2000. If anything, the conditions have worsened for boys, and data from the Nation’s Report Card (NAEP) and the growing Male Gender-Gap in college may reveal just how true that statement was then and now. This observation does not mean girls do not have their own struggles, as national data shows too few boys and girls are proficient in reading and math in 8th grade.

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America’s reading gap

To help us better understand the data, the newly formed American Institute for Responsible Research (AIRR) created categories that show the number of states where boys and girls are equal to, behind, or ahead of each other in reading and math. The measures look at all states in the country as well as the District of Columbia and the DoDEA (Department of Defense Education Activity).

AIRR used percent differences to determine whether the gaps between boys and girls in reading and math were essentially the same, moderately different, significantly different, or extremely different.

From 0-3 percent behind was considered essentially the same.

From 4-6 percent behind was considered moderately different.

From 7-9 percent behind was considered significantly different.

From 10+ percent behind was considered extremely different.

In Washington State in 2019, for instance, 45% of 8th grade girls were proficient and advanced in reading compared to 33% of boys. That 12% difference is listed as being “Extremely Behind Girls.”

In 2017, boys where “Significantly Behind” or “Extremely Behind” girls in 47 states and the DoDEA in reading.

In 2019, boys where “Significantly Behind” or “Extremely Behind” girls in 50 states, the District of Columbia, and the DoDEA in reading.

In 2022, boys where “Significantly Behind” or “Extremely Behind” girls in 36 states, the District of Columbia, and DoDEA.

DoDEA student outcomes were consistently higher, by significant margins, for boys and girls in reading and math than any state and the District of Columbia.

s there a math gap?

When it comes to math, boys’ and girls’ proficiencies are essentially the same in the majority of states. In 2017 and 2019, the math proficiencies of girls were essentially the same as boys in forty-three states and forty-four states respectively and moderately different in 7 states and 6 states respectively, including the District of Columbia and DoDEA.

Understanding the nuances of the data is an important component, something National Public Radio (NPR) casually brushes over in its reporting of the NAEP results in 2023. According to an NPR report, “the math results…showed widening gaps based on gender and race. Scores decreased by 11 points for female students over 2020 results, compared with a 7-point decrease for male students” (NPR).

Although technically true, NPR looked at the average result of hundreds of thousands of students scores and compared boys to girls. This approach conflates the data in a way that does not focus on the essential outcome measure, the percent of students scoring proficient and advanced. NPR misses the most significant measure. What percent of boys and girls scored proficient and advanced? The scores were relatively low for both boys (28%) and girls (25%) in math in 2022. In 2019, nationally, boys were 34% proficient and advanced in math compared to 33% of girls.

The drop from 2019 to 2022 in girls’ math scores might suggest, as does reading, that schools seem better at educating girls than they are at educating boys when school is in session, as math gaps are essentially non-existent and reading gaps are largest for boys, according to data from 2017 and 2019 test (see appendix of tables).

In 2019, there were fifteen states where fewer than 25-percent of boys were proficient in reading. This scenario was not the case for girls in any state in the country, as all states reported higher reading proficiencies for girls. The tables below provide a clearer picture of the large reading gap that exists for boys as well as the math proficiencies that are essentially the same in states across the country.

There were only three states where 36% or more boys were proficient and advanced in reading, compared to thirty-seven states where this was the case for girls.

When it came to math, there were seven states where 25% or fewer boys and girls were proficient and advanced. There were nineteen states where 36% or more of boys were proficient and advanced in math compared to 20 states where this was the case for girls, so essentially the same.

Reading is, unequivocally, the largest educational gap our nation faces, as boys are behind girls in essentially every state in the country by significant and extreme margins when it comes to being proficient or advanced (see tables in appendix).

Focusing on raising the number of students who score proficient and advanced should be a core goal. States should consider using the Nation’s Report Card (NAEP) as their official state assessment tool for fourth and eighth grades to help provide a more robust sample size and identify the challenges facing, not only boys and girls in their individual states, but boys and girls across the country. Using one uniformed test may actually help states compare schools to one another across the country.

And, using AIRR’s new presentation style of the data will help give a better sense of student outcomes. AIRR is also encouraging NAEP to disaggregate the data by both race and sex, something Global Initiative for Boys and Men has done in various state reports across the country.

https://gibm.substack.com/p/the-education-gap?utm_source=post-email-title&publication_id=353975&post_id=140302957&utm_campaign=email-post-title&isFreemail=true&r=18qchh&triedRedirect=true

In 2017 and 2019, there were seventeen states and sixteen states respectively where 25% or fewer boys were reading at or above proficient. For girls, there was one state in 2017 and zero states in 2019 where 25% or fewer girls were reading at grade level. At the upper end of the criteria, girls were significantly ahead of boys.

In 2017, there were 3 states where 41% or more of boys were proficient or advanced in reading compared to 31 states for girls.

In 2019, there was 1 state where 41% or more of boys were proficient or advanced in reading compared to 19 states for girls.

There were an additional eighteen states where 36% to 40% of girls were proficient or advanced compared to two states for boys in 2019.

School shutdowns during COVID showed that proficiency in reading and math decreased for boys and girls, but it may have also revealed that schools do a better job educating girls when school is in session.

What percent of students score proficient or better on the Nation’s Report Card?

In 2017, there were 3 states where 41% or more of boys were proficient or advanced in reading compared to 31 states for girls.

In 2019, there was 1 state where 41% or more of boys were proficient or advanced in reading compared to 19 states for girls.

There were an additional eighteen states where 36% to 40% of girls were proficient or advanced compared to two states for boys in 2019.

2022 testing (post-COVID) was a unique time because it revealed the impact of school shutdowns during COVID on student learning. The number of states where 25% or fewer eighth-grade boys were reading at grade level jumped from 15 states in 2019 to 30 states in 2022 for boys and from zero states to five states for eighth-grade girls.

The number of states where 41% or more of girls scored proficient or better decreased quite significantly, but boys’ reading scores paled in comparison to girls’ outcomes overall. Even as the number of states where girls scored proficient or better declined as a result of school shutdown, data also shows girls outcomes after the school shutdowns were still better than boys’ outcomes prior to the pandemic.

The reading GAP for boys is perhaps the singles largest gap the U.S. faces in its educational system, even as the nation confronts a need to improve the math scores for boys and girls.

Any differences between boys and girls in math seems quite manageable when looking at the number of states where the percent difference between boys and girls is essentially the same or moderately different.

The data above suggest that schools do a better job educating girls than they do educating boys when school is in session, and this may partly explain the Male Gender-Gap in college enrollment and preparing students for college. In 2017, 2018, and 2019, nearly 100,000 more females took the SAT every year than boys. In 2021, there were 2.4 million more women enrolled in undergraduate programs than men and another 800,000 more women enrolled in post-baccalaureate programs than men (NCES).

This observation does not mean girls do not face particular educational challenges that must be addressed. In New Mexico for instance, 15% of eighth grade boys and 22% of girls were proficient or above in reading in 2022. (14% of eight grade boys and 11% of girls were proficient in math in New Mexico in 2022.) It’s fair to say that boys and girls need better reading and math outcomes in New Mexico and other states.

But any reference by media, academia, and government when discussing the Nation’s Report Card and potential math gaps without discussing the systemic problem facing boys in reading is problematic.

What should we do?

Schools should be looking at the following three things.

Increase the number of boys and girls who are proficient and advanced in reading and math by focusing on proficiency.

Decrease the gaps to the point where the differences are essentially the same, which means that the percent of boys’ and girls’ proficiencies are within 3% of one another.

Make the NAEP test the official test of student across the country in 4th, 8th, and 11th grades.

By focusing on proficiencies and looking at the outcomes in a more nuanced way, the Nation’s Report Card data can be presented in a more meaningful way with the aim of achieving targeted goals. And by looking at the variances in percent differences between boys and girls, schools can begin to explore pedagogical approaches that may work better for teaching boys and girls and helping them become proficient in reading and math.

https://boysinitiative.org/blog-posts/colleges-closing-for-lack-of-boys-a-looming-crisis-in-higher-education/

L’écart de scolarisation entre les sexes

Un examen plus approfondi révèle une forte disparité entre les sexes au cœur de cette baisse des inscriptions. Depuis 2012, il y a 1,2 million d’étudiants de moins à l’université, et 83 % de cette réduction, soit environ 1,0 million d’étudiants, sont des hommes. Cette forte baisse parmi les étudiants masculins contraste avec une diminution négligeable des inscriptions d'étudiantes féminines, mettant en évidence un problème crucial dans la capacité de l'enseignement supérieur à attirer et à retenir les étudiants masculins.

Le potentiel inexploité des hommes intelligents

Contrairement à l’idée selon laquelle le déclin démographique des diplômés du secondaire serait à blâmer, il existe un « arriéré » substantiel de 20 millions d’hommes âgés de 20 à 40 ans qui souhaitent toujours un diplôme universitaire de quatre ans. Ces hommes représentent un énorme réservoir de potentiel inexploité. Un exemple inspirant est celui d’un ancien sans-abri de 42 ans qui, avec la détermination et le soutien financier, moral et bureaucratique nécessaire, est sur le point d’obtenir l’année prochaine un diplôme en informatique, sur le point de gagner plus de 100 000 $ par an.

La voie à suivre

Pour inverser cette tendance inquiétante, les collèges doivent prendre des mesures décisives pour attirer et retenir les étudiants de sexe masculin. Cela implique:

Repenser les politiques d'admission. Les collèges doivent admettre les étudiants en fonction de leur apprentissage et de leurs connaissances, et non sur la base d’un comportement non pertinent qui n’a rien à voir avec l’apprentissage et les connaissances. Cela signifie admettre les étudiants principalement sur la base des résultats des tests, et non de la moyenne cumulative.
Retenir et obtenir un diplôme chez les hommes. Même une fois admis, un plus grand nombre d’étudiants de sexe masculin ne sont pas retenus par les collèges par rapport aux étudiantes. La solution consiste à noter tous les élèves en fonction de leur apprentissage et de leurs connaissances plutôt que d’un comportement de genre biologique.

Conclusion

La fermeture des collèges à un rythme aussi alarmant est une crise qui exige une attention immédiate. En nous concentrant sur la compréhension et la lutte contre les disparités entre les sexes en matière d’inscription, en particulier la forte baisse du nombre d’étudiants de sexe masculin, nous pouvons commencer à endiguer la vague de fermetures et garantir que l’enseignement supérieur reste accessible et pertinent pour tous. L’avenir de notre économie et le bien-être de notre société en dépendent.