Girls Outperform Boys on Tech,
Engineering, Even Without Class
Girls in America show more mastery in technology and engineering
subjects than their boy classmates, says a new report.
The information comes from national education data released Tuesday.
The findings were part of the National Assessment of Educational
Progress, or NAEP. The NAEP measures what a representative sample of
students across the U.S. know and can do in several subjects. It is also
known as “The Nation’s Report Card."
It is only the second time in the NAEP’s 50-year history that it tested
students’ abilities in technology and engineering. The NAEP’s Technology
and Engineering Literacy test, or TEL, was first given in 2014. It asks
students to “solve real-world technology and engineering problems.”
The 15,400 eighth-grade students who took the TEL test in 2018 scored an
average of 152 points out of a possible 300 points. In 2014, they
averaged 150 points.
Girls who took the test in 2018 scored an average of five points higher
than boys, 155 to 150. That is a wider difference than results from the
2014 test showed.
Between 2014 and 2018, the scores of girls increased from about 151 to
155. Boys’ scores, however, mostly stayed the same.
Yet, fewer girls take technology and engineering classes in school than
boys. Sixty-one percent of male students reported taking at least one
class like coding or robotics. Just 53 percent of female students
reported doing the same.
Peggy Carr is with the National Center for Education Statistics, which
oversees the NAEP. It is part of the U.S. Department of Education. She
presented the findings on Tuesday. She described the five-point
difference between girls and boys as a “meaningful statement.”
Carr said, “Although girls are outperforming boys, boys are taking at a
higher rate more engineering classes. They are outscoring boys whether
or not they take a class.”
The TEL test measured a student’s ability to use technology and
engineering skills in real-life situations. It used interactive tasks to
learn what students know and can do. Examples include building a path
for bicyclists and creating a museum show.
Girls especially outperformed boys in the areas of communication and
teamwork, or collaboration.
Carr said the results demonstrate that school administrators and other
education leaders “need to encourage girls to take more of these
technology and engineering courses.” She added that boys also should be
given more of a chance to work on communication and collaboration
skills.
NAEP presents results for groups of students with similarities such as
gender, race and ethnicity -- and not for individual students.
In 2018, about 46 percent of students performed at or above the
so-called NAEP Proficient level on the TEL test. That is an improvement
from 2014, when about 43 percent of students reached the proficient
level.
Most groups showed at least some improvement in 2018 compared to 2014.
Along with the increased scores among female students, the 2018 TEL test
also saw strong improvements among Asian students, students from
low-earning families and students whose parents did not complete high
school.
However, scores for students who identified as English-language learners
went down in 2018 – from 108 to 106 points. Scores among Native American
students decreased more – from 146 to 133. |