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The mythical 'boy crisis'?

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  • Husain, Muna
  • Millimet, Daniel L.

Abstract

The popular press has put forth the idea that the US educational system is experiencing a "boy crisis," where boys are losing ground to girls across multiple dimensions. Here, we analyze these claims in the context of math and reading achievement during early primary school. We reach two conclusions. First, white boys outperform white girls in math across virtually the entire distribution by the end of third grade; there is less evidence for other races. Second, boys lag behind girls in reading at the start of kindergarten and at the end of third grade across all races, but only the lowest-achieving boys lose ground over the first 4 years; boys gain ground between first and third grades.

Suggested Citation

  • Husain, Muna & Millimet, Daniel L., 2009. "The mythical 'boy crisis'?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 38-48, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:28:y:2009:i:1:p:38-48
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    Cited by:

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    2. Golsteyn, Bart H.H. & Schils, Trudie, 2014. "Gender gaps in primary school achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 176-187.
    3. Gilpin, Gregory A., 2012. "Teacher salaries and teacher aptitude: An analysis using quantile regressions," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 15-29.
    4. Golsteyn, Bart H.H. & Schils, Trudie, 2014. "Gender Gaps in Primary School Achievement: A Decomposition into Endowments and Returns to IQ and Non-cognitive Factors," IZA Discussion Papers 8201, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Deborah A. Cobb-Clark & Julie Moschion, 2017. "Gender gaps in early educational achievement," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 30(4), pages 1093-1134, October.
    6. Doris, Aedín & O’Neill, Donal & Sweetman, Olive, 2013. "Gender, single-sex schooling and maths achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 104-119.
    7. Coneus, Katja & Laucht, Manfred & Reuß, Karsten, 2012. "The role of parental investments for cognitive and noncognitive skill formation—Evidence for the first 11 years of life," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 189-209.
    8. Mohammed Ibrahim Aldaghir, 2018. "Do Morning Classes Improve Student Learning of Microeconomics Principles?," International Advances in Economic Research, Springer;International Atlantic Economic Society, vol. 24(2), pages 163-177, May.
    9. Naven, Matthew, 2020. "Within-School Heterogeneity in Quality: Do Schools Provide Equal Value Added to All Students?," MPRA Paper 100123, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Ha Trong Nguyen, 2015. "The evolution of the gender test score gap through seventh grade: New insights from Australia using quantile regression and decomposition," Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre Working Paper series WP1507, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School.
    11. Yang, Juan & Zhao, Xinhui, 2021. "Does all work and no play make elite students? Evidence from the China education panel survey," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 80(C).
    12. Saygin, Perihan Ozge, 2014. "Do Girls Really Outperform Boys in Educational Outcomes?," Working Papers 14-05, University of Mannheim, Department of Economics.
    13. Zurab Abramishvili & William Appleman & Sergii Maksymovych, 2019. "Parental Gender Preference in the Balkans and Scandinavia: Gender Bias or Differential Costs?," CERGE-EI Working Papers wp643, The Center for Economic Research and Graduate Education - Economics Institute, Prague.

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