In math, girls and boys are equal

WASHINGTON — Sixteen years after Barbie dolls declared, "Math class is tough!" girls are proving that when it comes to math, they are just as tough as boys.

In the largest study of its kind, girls measured up to boys in every grade, from second through 11th. The research is in the new issue of the journal Science.

The analysis of standardized test scores from more than 7.2 million U.S. students in grades two through 11 found no difference in math scores for girls and boys, contradicting a pervasive belief that most women aren't hard-wired for careers in science and technology.

The study also undermined the assumption — espoused in 2005 by Lawrence Summers, then president of Harvard University — that boys are more likely to be math geniuses. Girls scored in the top 5 percent almost as often as boys, the data showed.

"Both parents and teachers continue to hold the stereotype that boys are better than girls [at math]," said psychologist Janet Hyde of the University of Wisconsin, Madison, who led the study. "That's just not accurate."

Girls who believe the stereotype wind up avoiding harder math classes. "It keeps girls and women out of a lot of careers, particularly high-prestige, lucrative careers in science and technology," Hyde said.

That's changing, slowly.

Concerted efforts in the past 20 years to encourage girls to pursue math seem to have paid off. By 2000, high-school girls were taking calculus at the same rate as their male peers.

"Now that enrollment in advanced-math courses is equalized in high school, we don't see gender differences in performance on state tests," said study co-author Marcia Linn, a University of California, Berkeley, professor of education.

Women now earn 48 percent of all mathematics bachelor's degrees. However, they still lag far behind in physics and engineering.

Hyde and her colleagues examined data from math tests administered between 2005 and 2007 as part of the No Child Left Behind initiative, which mandates annual testing of youngsters from elementary through high school. Comparing the average scores of girls and boys in 10 states, the researchers found that neither gender consistently outpaced the other in any state or at any grade level.

Even test questions from the National Assessment of Education Progress that were designed to measure complex reasoning skills found that gender differences were minuscule, according to the study.

"There's nothing in any of these data that would suggest that girls can't do math or aren't doing well in math," said Diane Halpern, a professor of psychology at California's Claremont McKenna College who was not involved in the study.

However, she noted that girls generally score better on tests that are closely aligned with classroom curriculum, including the standardized tests used for No Child Left Behind.

Boys typically score higher on the math portion of the SAT, a fact often cited as evidence of greater math ability. But since more girls take the college-entrance exam, the results aren't comparable, Hyde said.

Studies in the 1990s found that boys and girls in elementary school scored equally well on math tests, but that by the time students reached high school, boys outscored girls on tests involving complex problem-solving.

As Hyde and her colleagues looked across the data for states' testing, they also found something they didn't expect: In most states they reviewed, and at most grade levels, there weren't any questions that involved complex problem-solving, an ability needed to succeed in high levels of science and math.

If tests don't assess these reasoning skills, they may not be taught, putting U.S. students at a disadvantage compared with students in other countries with more challenging tests, the researchers said.

A panel of experts convened by the Education Department recommended that state tests be updated to emphasize critical thinking.

While some states have fairly rigorous tests, "we can do a better job," said Kerri Briggs, the department's assistant secretary for elementary and secondary education.

"If we're going to be globally competitive, we need students who are able to do higher-level math skills," she said.

In 1992, Barbie stopped saying math was hard after Mattel received complaints from, among others, the American Association of University Women.

So far, while her current career choices include pediatrician and veterinarian — and Dallas Cowboys cheerleader — Barbie has not branched out into technology or engineering.

Compiled from The Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times, The San Francisco Chronicle and the San Jose Mercury News