A Study of the Differences in Achievement of Males and Females in High School Mathematics

This study was undertaken to examine and compare the differences in the achievement of male and female students in the traditional college-preparatory mathematics classes taken in high school. The subjects were 58 males and 43 females who graduated in 1986 from 10 southwestern Missouri high schools. All the subjects had completed four years of college-preparatory mathematics classes. The subjects\u27 semester grades in Algebra I, Algebra II, Geometry, and Trigonomoetry (Math-Analysis) were compared by sex using discriminate analysis. There was a significant difference in the mathematics achievement of the males and females. There was very little difference in achievement of each group by semester, and only slight interaction between sex and semester. Although there were significant correlations between achievement and sex, achievement was not shown to be a predictor of sex of the student