IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecoedu/v29y2010i3p383-399.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Are boys left behind? The evolution of the gender achievement gap in Beijing's middle schools

Author

Listed:
  • Lai, Fang

Abstract

Using one cohort of 7235 middle school students in Beijing, China, we examined the evolution of the gender achievement gap in middle school. Our study found a more significant female dominance than in U.S. studies: even though boys gradually caught up during middle school, especially in Math and Science, and the gender achievement gap decreased over the distribution of test scores, girls outperformed boys throughout primary and middle school and in each quartile of the performance distribution. As well, girls had a more positive school experience than boys, and boys had a higher dropout rate by the end of middle school. Despite significant gender differences in various important characteristics that have explained the gender achievement gap in the U.S., in our study, primary school test scores seemed to be the only significant source of the gender achievement gap at the end of middle school, indicating the importance of early intervention.

Suggested Citation

  • Lai, Fang, 2010. "Are boys left behind? The evolution of the gender achievement gap in Beijing's middle schools," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 383-399, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:29:y:2010:i:3:p:383-399
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0272-7757(09)00105-8
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Claudia Goldin & Lawrence F. Katz & Ilyana Kuziemko, 2006. "The Homecoming of American College Women: The Reversal of the College Gender Gap," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(4), pages 133-156, Fall.
    2. Brian A. Jacob, 2002. "Where the boys aren't: Non-cognitive skills, returns to school and the gender gap in higher education," NBER Working Papers 8964, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Rose, Heather, 2006. "Do gains in test scores explain labor market outcomes?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 430-446, August.
    4. Stephen Machin & Sandra McNally, 2005. "Gender and Student Achievement in English Schools," Oxford Review of Economic Policy, Oxford University Press and Oxford Review of Economic Policy Limited, vol. 21(3), pages 357-372, Autumn.
    5. Cho, Donghun, 2007. "The role of high school performance in explaining women's rising college enrollment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 450-462, August.
    6. Jacob, Brian A., 2002. "Where the boys aren't: non-cognitive skills, returns to school and the gender gap in higher education," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 589-598, December.
    7. Duraisamy, P., 2002. "Changes in returns to education in India, 1983-94: by gender, age-cohort and location," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(6), pages 609-622, December.
    8. Christie, Pamela & Shannon, Michael, 2001. "Educational attainment and the gender wage gap: evidence from the 1986 and 1991 Canadian censuses," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 20(2), pages 165-180, April.
    9. Bedard, Kelly & Ferrall, Christopher, 2003. "Wage and test score dispersion: some international evidence," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(1), pages 31-43, February.
    10. Toumanoff, Peter, 2005. "The effects of gender on salary-at-hire in the academic labor market," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 179-188, April.
    11. Hawley, Joshua D., 2004. "Changing returns to education in times of prosperity and crisis, Thailand 1985-1998," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 23(3), pages 273-286, June.
    12. Tansel, Aysit, 2002. "Determinants of school attainment of boys and girls in Turkey: individual, household and community factors," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 21(5), pages 455-470, October.
    13. Daoud, Yousef, 2005. "Gender gap in returns to schooling in Palestine," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 633-649, December.
    14. Nam, Young-Sook, 1996. "Schooling and changes in earnings differentials by gender in South Korea, 1976-1991," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(3), pages 245-258, June.
    15. Millimet Daniel L & Wang Le, 2006. "A Distributional Analysis of the Gender Earnings Gap in Urban China," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 5(1), pages 1-50, February.
    16. Jamison, Dean T. & Van der Gaag, Jacques, 1987. "Education and earnings in the People's Republic of China," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 161-166, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Huong Thu Le & Ha Trong Nguyen, 2018. "The evolution of the gender test score gap through seventh grade: new insights from Australia using unconditional quantile regression and decomposition," IZA Journal of Labor Economics, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 7(1), pages 1-42, December.
    2. Buhl-Wiggers, Julie & Jones, Sam & Thornton, Rebecca, 2021. "Boys lagging behind: Unpacking gender differences in academic achievement across East Africa," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    3. Lu, M., 2018. "The gender gap in math performance, self-concept, and anxiety: rural and urban China in an international context," 2018 Conference, July 28-August 2, 2018, Vancouver, British Columbia 277189, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    4. Yuan, Cheng & Zhang, Lei, 2015. "Public education spending and private substitution in urban China," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 115(C), pages 124-139.
    5. Golsteyn, Bart H.H. & Schils, Trudie, 2014. "Gender gaps in primary school achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 176-187.
    6. Figlio, D. & Karbownik, K. & Salvanes, K.G., 2016. "Education Research and Administrative Data," Handbook of the Economics of Education,, Elsevier.
    7. Muñoz, Juan Sebastián, 2018. "The economics behind the math gender gap: Colombian evidence on the role of sample selection," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 368-391.
    8. Daniel Suryadarma, 2015. "Gender differences in numeracy in Indonesia: evidence from a longitudinal dataset," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(2), pages 180-198, April.
    9. Golsteyn, B.H.H. & Schils, T., 2014. "Gender gaps in primary school achievement. A decomposition into endowments and returns to IQ and non-cognitive factors," ROA Research Memorandum 007, Maastricht University, Research Centre for Education and the Labour Market (ROA).
    10. Gong, Xin & Zhang, Hui & Yao, Haogen, 2015. "The determinants of compulsory education performance of migrant children in Beijing: An analysis of two cohorts," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 1-15.
    11. Yuhe Guo & Qihui Chen & Shengying Zhai & Chunchen Pei, 2020. "Does private tutoring improve student learning in China? Evidence from the China Education Panel Survey," Asia and the Pacific Policy Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 7(3), pages 322-343, September.
    12. Raymundo M. Campos Vázquez & Alma S. Santillán Hernández, 2016. "Análisis de diferencias en puntajes en la prueba ENLACE entre niños y niñas en el sistema escolar mexicano," Estudios Económicos, El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Económicos, vol. 31(1), pages 65-123.
    13. Shuang Yu & Xiaojun Zhao, 2021. "How Do Different Households Respond to Public Education Spending?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(20), pages 1-24, October.
    14. Yamauchi, Futoshi & Tiongco, Marites, 2013. "Why women are progressive in education? Gender disparities in human capital, labor markets, and family arrangement in the Philippines," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 32(C), pages 196-206.
    15. Hinnerich, Björn Tyrefors & Höglin, Erik & Johannesson, Magnus, 2011. "Are boys discriminated in Swedish high schools?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 30(4), pages 682-690, August.
    16. Xu, Di & Li, Qiujie, 2018. "Gender achievement gaps among Chinese middle school students and the role of teachers’ gender," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 67(C), pages 82-93.
    17. Zhang, Y. Jane, 2013. "Culture and the Gender Gap in Competitive Inclination: Evidence from the Communist Experiment in China," MPRA Paper 47356, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Ke, Shen & Lee, Sang-Hyop, 2014. "Benefit Incidence of Public Transfers: Evidence from the People’s Republic of China," ADB Economics Working Paper Series 413, Asian Development Bank.
    19. He, Yinghua, 2012. "Gaming the Boston School Choice Mechanism in Beijing," TSE Working Papers 12-345, Toulouse School of Economics (TSE).
    20. 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.
    21. Liu, Ting & Holmes, Kathryn & Albright, James, 2015. "Predictors of mathematics achievement of migrant children in Chinese urban schools: A comparative study," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 35-42.
    22. Chunhan Huang & Junyun Shi & Xiaodong Zeng, 2023. "Personality Traits, Student-Teacher Relationships and Boys’ Academic Crisis in China: Evidence From the Least Developed Regions," SAGE Open, , vol. 13(4), pages 21582440231, December.
    23. Shen, Ke & Wang, Feng & Cai, Yong, 2016. "Patterns of inequalities in public transfers by gender in China," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 8(C), pages 76-84.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Adele H. Marshall & Mariangela Zenga & Aglaia Kalamatianou, 2020. "Academic Students’ Progress Indicators and Gender Gaps Based on Survival Analysis and Data Mining Frameworks," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 151(3), pages 1097-1128, October.
    2. Christopher Cornwell & David B. Mustard & Jessica Van Parys, 2013. "Noncognitive Skills and the Gender Disparities in Test Scores and Teacher Assessments: Evidence from Primary School," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 48(1), pages 236-264.
    3. Holford, Angus, 2015. "Youth employment and academic performance: production functions and policy effects," ISER Working Paper Series 2015-06, Institute for Social and Economic Research.
    4. Tuomas Pekkarinen, 2008. "Gender Differences in Educational Attainment: Evidence on the Role of Tracking from a Finnish Quasi‐experiment," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 110(4), pages 807-825, December.
    5. Esteban M. Aucejo & Jonathan James, 2019. "Catching up to girls: Understanding the gender imbalance in educational attainment within race," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(4), pages 502-525, June.
    6. David J. Deming, 2017. "The Growing Importance of Social Skills in the Labor Market," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 132(4), pages 1593-1640.
    7. Pekkarinen, Tuomas, 2012. "Gender Differences in Education," IZA Discussion Papers 6390, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    8. Nadir Altinok & Abdurrahman Aydemir, 2015. "The Unfolding of Gender Gap in Education," Working Papers halshs-01204805, HAL.
    9. Conger, Dylan, 2015. "High school grades, admissions policies, and the gender gap in college enrollment," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 144-147.
    10. Leslie S. Stratton & Nabanita Datta Gupta & David Reimer & Anders Holm, 2017. "Modeling Enrollment in and Completion of Vocational Education: The Role of Cognitive and Non-cognitive Skills by Program Type," University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP) Working Papers 20172, University of Western Ontario, Centre for Human Capital and Productivity (CHCP).
    11. Groen, Jeffrey A. & Pabilonia, Sabrina Wulff, 2019. "Snooze or lose: High school start times and academic achievement," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 204-218.
    12. Susan Dynarski, 2008. "Building the Stock of College-Educated Labor," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(3), pages 576-610.
    13. Martha J. Bailey & Susan M. Dynarski, 2011. "Gains and Gaps: Changing Inequality in U.S. College Entry and Completion," NBER Working Papers 17633, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Dustmann, Christian & Ku, Hyejin & Kwak, Do Won, 2018. "Why Are Single-Sex Schools Successful?," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 54(C), pages 79-99.
    15. Suqin Ge & Fang Yang, 2013. "Accounting For The Gender Gap In College Attainment," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 51(1), pages 478-499, January.
    16. Machin, Stephen & McNally, Sandra, 2008. "The literacy hour," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(5-6), pages 1441-1462, June.
    17. Marianne Bertrand & Jessica Pan, 2013. "The Trouble with Boys: Social Influences and the Gender Gap in Disruptive Behavior," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 5(1), pages 32-64, January.
    18. Priti Kalsi, 2015. "Abortion Legalization, Sex Selection, and Female University Enrollment in Taiwan," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 64(1), pages 163-185.
    19. Lei, Ziteng & Lundberg, Shelly, 2020. "Vulnerable Boys: Short-term and Long-term Gender Differences in the Impacts of Adolescent Disadvantage," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 424-448.
    20. Reijnders, L.S.M., 2014. "The college gender gap reversal," Research Report 14006-EEF, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecoedu:v:29:y:2010:i:3:p:383-399. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/econedurev .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.