Girls’ and boys’ math performance now equal

Girls now equal the performance of boys on standard mathematics assessment tests, probably because girls now match boys in the number and level of math courses they take in elementary and high school, according to a new study by researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of Wisconsin, Madison.

That wasn’t the case 20 years ago, when studies showed nearly identical performance at the elementary school level but girls lagging boys at the high school level. Since then, girls’ participation in higher level mathematics classes has risen to the same level as boys’, with predictable results, according to study co-author Marcia Linn, UC Berkeley professor of education.