TY - JOUR
T1 - Complicated Gender Gaps in Mathematics Achievement
T2 - Elevated Stakes during Performance as One Explanation
AU - Lyons, Emily
AU - Mesghina, Almaz
AU - Richland, Lindsey E.
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was supported by the Spencer Foundation (201800012); the NAEd/Spencer Dissertation Fellowship and NSF Fellowship award (DGE‐1144082) to Emily M. Lyons; and the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education (R305A170488 and R305B140048) to the University of Chicago. The opinions expressed are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent views of the funders. Earlier versions of this work were previously presented at the annual conferences of the Cognitive Science Society on July 29, 2020 and at the American Education Research Association on April 6, 2019.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Mind, Brain, and Education published by International Mind, Brain, and Education Society and Wiley Periodicals LLC.
PY - 2022/2
Y1 - 2022/2
N2 - Gender gaps in mathematics achievement persist in many contexts and when visible, these gaps are paradoxical. Low-stakes measures of mathematics achievement such as grades and study behaviors favor girls, while gaps tend to reverse on assessments/competitions. We explore whether different impacts of raising performance stakes could be one explanation. Study 1 experimentally manipulated the stakes by imposing a performance-contingent, social-evaluative pressure either: before instruction (n = 66), before testing (n = 61), or none (n = 54). Pressure, particularly when experienced during instruction, reduced learning among girls. In contrast, boys trended toward enhanced learning under pressure. In the absence of pressure, girls exhibited strikingly larger gains in learning. Study 2 drew from a larger dataset (n = 386) to interrogate whether girls' superior learning in the no-pressure context might simply be an artifact of differences in prior knowledge, cognitive resources, or demographic variables, but the effect replicated and was not explained by these factors.
AB - Gender gaps in mathematics achievement persist in many contexts and when visible, these gaps are paradoxical. Low-stakes measures of mathematics achievement such as grades and study behaviors favor girls, while gaps tend to reverse on assessments/competitions. We explore whether different impacts of raising performance stakes could be one explanation. Study 1 experimentally manipulated the stakes by imposing a performance-contingent, social-evaluative pressure either: before instruction (n = 66), before testing (n = 61), or none (n = 54). Pressure, particularly when experienced during instruction, reduced learning among girls. In contrast, boys trended toward enhanced learning under pressure. In the absence of pressure, girls exhibited strikingly larger gains in learning. Study 2 drew from a larger dataset (n = 386) to interrogate whether girls' superior learning in the no-pressure context might simply be an artifact of differences in prior knowledge, cognitive resources, or demographic variables, but the effect replicated and was not explained by these factors.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85124490972&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85124490972&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/mbe.12312
DO - 10.1111/mbe.12312
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85124490972
SN - 1751-2271
VL - 16
SP - 36
EP - 47
JO - Mind, Brain, and Education
JF - Mind, Brain, and Education
IS - 1
ER -