Education Week - July 15, 2020 - 3

Vol. 39 * Issue 37 * July 15, 2020

Unlike Boys, Only Top Girls
Choose College and Careers
In Male-Dominated STEM Fields
Gender gaps in the most male-dominated science fields don't
come from men outperforming women academically in those subjects but from the simple fact that overwhelmingly more boys than
girls opt for those careers in spite of lackluster science skills.
Boys and girls with the very highest math and science skills choose
to major in physics, engineering, and computer science at roughly
the same rates, finds a new study in the journal Science. But the gender gap widens for students at all other achievement levels.
New York University researchers led by Joseph Cimpian, an associate professor of economics and education policy, looked at federal
data on more than 6,000 students over seven years, from the start
of high school until midway through college.
"Those that are higher in STEM achievement are more likely to
go into these math-heavy fields, and you see that for both men and
women," Cimpian said, "but what's more pronounced is that the
women aren't going into these math-intensive fields unless they are
above average-and really oftentimes much further above average-while men start going into these fields even if they are lowerachieving."
For example, about 10 percent of the men whose science and math
performance had been in the lowest 1 percent in high school went
on to study physics, engineering, or computer science in college.
The rate of women entering those fields didn't reach that level except among students in the top 20 percent of all math and science
achievement.
Among the highest-performing students, much of the gender gap
could be explained by lower feelings of confidence and self-efficacy
among girls. But the researchers found that among students with
lower achievement levels, boys and girls did not show significant differences in self-confidence, interest in science, academic mindsets,
or even having a math or science "identity."
Overall, by college nearly 24 percent of men but only 5.5 percent of
women chose to go into physics, engineering, or computer science, and
those women had higher-than-average math and science skills.

During Perfect Civics Storm, Students
Can't Demonstrate Savvy on NAEP
Schools, businesses, and other institutions are shut down because
of COVID-19. Millions of Americans have taken to the streets protesting police violence and other mistreatment of Blacks. Leaders
from the White House to statehouses to mayors' offices are in a tizzy
over how to solve these staggering problems. And amid all this, political candidates are revving up for bruising battles to run government at all levels.
What an opportune time to find out how much our children have
absorbed about the societal turmoil. Well, that chance has been
nixed. Eighth graders were on schedule to be tested on their U.S. history and civics prowess next year, but the overseers of the National
Assessment of Educational Progress shot that down late last month.
Even the congressionally mandated reading and math tests for 4th
and 8th graders may get canned or at least delayed.
The reason for the cancellation: one of those very circumstances
afflicting us-the coronavirus. The National Center for Education
Sciences, which conducts the tests, estimates they will cost an additional $45 million to safely administer during the pandemic.
"It's not the money issue," Mark Schneider, the director of the Institute of Education Sciences, said of conducting the civics and history
assessment. "It is taking all the machinery and putting it in schools
for nonmandatory assessments," he said, thus increasing the risk of
spreading the coronavirus virus through people and equipment being
moved from school to school, sometimes multiple times.
Not that anyone would be eagerly awaiting the results, if they
mirror the 2018 ones released last month: 8th graders' civics performance was middling, while their understanding of history and
geography dropped sharply.

OPINION

4 Three Members of Navajo Family,

Two of Them Educators, Die From COVID-19

6 Can Teachers Really Do Their Jobs

16 What the Looming Economic Collapse

Could Mean for Education

In Masks?

17 Why I Showed My Young Children The

7 The COVID-19 School Year:

Video of George Floyd's Death

Schedules and Buses

8 U.S. Supreme Court Rejects Prohibition

On Tax-Credit Scholarships
For Religious Schools

20 Do White People Get It?

DEPARTMENTS

10 Teachers Pay Teachers Works Toward

Anti-Racism

12 Police Face Fierce Push for Accountability

2 Briefly Stated
18 Letters to the Editor
19 EdWeek Top School Jobs

Could Unionized Teachers Be Next?

14 6 Ways District Leaders Can Build

Racial Equity

VIDEO

What It's Like to Retire From
Teaching During a Pandemic
For teachers who are retiring at the end of a
disrupted school year, there is no big, in-person
celebration. And many of them say that they are
missing a sense of closure.

www.edweek/org/go/RetiringVideo

DATA

When Will School Start This Fall?

The Schools Named After
Confederate Figures

The 2020-21 academic year remains in a state of
limbo because of COVID-19, but states are
moving forward with guidelines for local
districts to use as they make decisions about
when instruction-in-person, online, or a
combination of both-will begin.

www.edweek.org/go/ReopeningData

www.facebook.com/edweek

There are 200 schools-most in the South-
named for Confederate leaders and figures who
fought to keep Black Americans enslaved.
Anti-racism activists are mounting campaigns
to change some of them.

www.edweek.org/go/ConfederateFigures

@EducationWeek

video.edweek.org

www.linkedin.com/company/edweek

www.edweek.org/go/instagram

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Education Week - July 15, 2020

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