Local test scores show gap between genders

An analysis of last year’s standardized test results of Orange County Schools shows a performance gap between girls and boys.

Males in grades three through eight consistently performed worse than their female counterparts on standardized testing for the 2009-10 school year, school officials said at an Orange County Board of Education meeting last week.

“I think it’s just wonderful what these young women are doing in our school system,” board member Stephen Halkiotis said at the meeting. “I say more power to them.

“Men have ruled for a very long time, and now I’m glad to see women taking over.”

Of the 1,615 females who tested last spring, about 76 percent were at or above the proficiency level in reading— nearly 4 percent higher than the 1,675 males who tested.

Similar differences in scoring were also reported in mathematics, with about 85 percent of females meeting proficiency compared to nearly 82 percent of males.

Mary Calhoun, director of testing and accountability for the district, helped analyze scoring data sent from the state. Calhoun said high schools were not included in the study because the data was significantly more complex, but the pattern of females outperforming males remained constant.

C.W. Stanford Middle School principal Anne Purcell said while females at her school performed slightly better than males last year, the discrepancies were not connected to a single outside factor.

“I think it’s just a coincidence,” Purcell said. “Historically, people have said that boys were better in math than girls, but I think everyone is even now.

“Here at Stanford, boys and girls seem to be pretty much equal.”

Purcell said there are a wide range of services offered to students who may be falling behind in the classroom, such as tutoring and after-school programs.

Calhoun said the data also showed that black and Latino boys tended to score lower than their peers of any other demographic.

Michelle Laws, president of the Chapel Hill-Carrboro chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, said minority boys are not only scoring lower but also dropping out at higher rates.

She said low expectations are a reason for the disparities.

“Black and Hispanic male students are often placed in low-level courses, indicating that the expectations for their performance just aren’t there,” she said. “If they are not expected to perform at high levels, they just give up.”

A large proportion of black and Latino males live at or below the poverty line in the area, which also creates disadvantages, Laws said.

“You may have a situation where parents are working two jobs. This lowers the chances that they will be supportive and participate in PTA or open house activities,” she said.

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