Potential differences in achievement between female and male students have always been an interesting topic in educational research, as well as having policy and economic implications. This study provides an overview of the so-called “gender gap” in mathematics and science knowledge, based on an in-depth analysis of both extremes of student ability distributions. Evidence underpinning debate on gender inequality in education can be explored by analyzing trends in these distributions over the last 20 years. This new approach to gender gap analysis shows that while the gender gaps that existed 20 years ago have persisted, gender equality in education has increased. The persistent trend of an overrepresentation of male students in the group of high-achievers in both mathematics and science is striking, but male and female students are often also unequally represented at the lower end of the ability distributions. Patterns differ between countries and cycles. In many countries, male students constitute the majority of the lower end of the ability distribution, while in others, more female students are failing to achieve, especially at grade eight. Some countries have shown a reversed inequality trend over the last two decades. With the proposed approach in analyzing gender gaps, differences at the tails of the achievement distributions can be investigated even if the gender distribution is skewed. Policymakers could make use of the approach to closely monitor the development of achievement gaps in their countries and initiate measures to tackle potential causes of inequity, leading to gender inequalities regarding educational achievement.

中文翻译：

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性别差距趋势：使用TIMSS的20年证据

男女学生成就上的潜在差异一直是教育研究中一个有趣的话题，并且具有政策和经济意义。这项研究基于对学生能力分布的两种极端情况的深入分析，概述了数学和科学知识中所谓的“性别差距”。可以通过分析过去20年间这些分布趋势来探索支持有关教育中性别不平等的辩论的证据。这种新的性别差距分析方法表明，尽管20年前存在的性别差距仍然存在，但教育中的性别平等却在增加。在数学和自然科学领域中，高成就男生人数过多的持续趋势是惊人的，但是在能力分布的低端，男生和女生通常也代表不平等。国家和周期之间的模式不同。在许多国家，男生占能力分配较低端的大多数，而在另一些国家，尤其是八年级，则没有更多的女学生取得成绩。在过去的二十年中，一些国家的不平等趋势有所逆转。通过所提出的分析性别差距的方法，即使性别分布存在偏差，也可以调查成就分布尾部的差异。政策制定者可以利用这种方法来密切监测本国成就差距的发展，并采取措施解决造成不平等的潜在原因，从而导致教育成就方面的性别不平等。