Decomposing international gender test score differences

Area of Science:

• Educational Assessment
• Gender Studies
• Economics of Education

Background:

• International assessments like PISA reveal persistent gender disparities in student performance.
• Understanding the drivers of these differences is crucial for educational equity.
• Previous research indicates varying gender performance across different academic domains.

Purpose of the Study:

• To decompose worldwide Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) mathematics and reading scores by gender.
• To investigate the factors contributing to gender gaps in academic achievement.
• To analyze the influence of productive endowments, learning productivity, and national gender equality on these scores.

Main Methods:

• Statistical decomposition of PISA mathematics and reading scores.
• Analysis of score distributions across different talent levels.
• Examination of correlations between gender disparities and national gender equality indices.

Main Results:

• Girls outperform boys in reading, while boys maintain an advantage in mathematics.
• Girls' disadvantage in mathematics widens across the talent distribution.
• Increasing productive endowments and learning productivity partially explain the widening math gap; national gender equality also plays a role.
• Girls' reading advantage at the upper talent levels is linked to learning productivity, but not at lower levels.

Conclusions:

• Gender disparities in PISA scores are complex, influenced by multiple factors including learning productivity and societal gender equality.
• The widening gap in mathematics achievement for girls requires further investigation into unexplained factors.
• Targeted interventions may be needed to address gender-specific challenges in both reading and mathematics education.