Source: Quartz
New study finds that there is a gender gap in math performance, starting at a very early age, and widening up until third grade.
The study found that the gap during the critical time frame is meaningful because early interest and well performance in math can determine how a student performs in math in the future.
Contrary to previous studies, the new study approached a different set of data that accounted for differences in test-taking abilities in girls and boys.
“A team of researchers used two sets of data from the National Center for Education Statistics’ Early Childhood Longitudinal Program, which tracks kids over time starting in kindergarten—one group starting in 1998-99, and the second in 2010-11.
The data indicated that girls in kindergarten perform closely just as well as boys, and over time the number of girl in the top percentile drops dramatically with each year.
Read full story at: Quartz