The Current Gender Gap in Education and Opportunities to Maximize Learning for All

By: Bev Freedman Ed.D., Education Consultant

iteach.ca

Context

Christensen, Horn and Johnson (2008) wrote Disrupting Class providing provocative challenges to our schools and school systems to rethink the spaces and places of learning to prepare students for a productive, knowledge-economy. An educated citizenship is fundamental to a knowledge society (Freedman & Di Cecco, 2013). Acquisition of global competencies, which include literacy and mathematical skills as well as creative and critical thinking are critical in the foundation of future-focused, interconnected world. Students that do not acquire these fundamental skills are more likely to be left behind. Their future opportunities and possibilities are diminished. This paper focuses on some males who continue to be underserved as students and resulting negative consequences.

For Ontario’s and Canada’s students to be fully participating members of society, they must be literate, numerate. The Programme for International Assessment or PISA defines literacy as “an individual’s capacity to understand, use, evaluate, reflect on and engage with texts in order to achieve one’s goals, develop one’s knowledge and potential, and participate in society” (OECD, 2019:14).

In this time of heightened accountability, it is important to identify groups of students who are under-performing so that targeted strategies can be used to support their improved achievement. This paper draws from sources of student outcomes such as provincial, national and international assessments, special education identification and other measures. Gaps exist in terms of outcomes, achievement, and attitude, for some of Ontario’s students. Analysis of the data indicates in some areas, the gaps are gendered between male/female achievement and attitudinal results. The high stakes assessments such as the province’s Education Quality and Accountability Office (EQAO), and OECD’s Programme for Student Assessment (PISA) include student surveys on demographics and participants’ perceptions of a variety of areas including the subject/area under question. These attitudinal questions/statements query how students situate themselves in the subject area including confidence level, viewing the subject/area as important, and degree of engagement. Attitude and motivation can be predictors of achievement (Abdullahi, 2017; Hemmings & Kay, 2010).

Why does it matter? Achievement and attitude are predictors of graduating from high school. According to Statistics Canada (Uppal, 2017), young men and women without a high school diploma are more likely to be unemployed, to die earlier, to have children younger. They are less likely to hold secure high paying jobs, vote, less likely to have their children graduate and go on to post-secondary institutions, and participate in their communities. Therefore, underachievement matters, resulting in gender divides.

After years of underachievement of females in mathematics and science, there is evidence of change. To narrow the gaps between males and females achievement in science and mathematics schools/systems implemented targeted gender-based interventions. The gaps between male and female achievement has been narrowed, and in some cases, as the data presented in this paper indicates, closed. However, as a group, some males continue to underperform when compared to their female peers on a variety of measures. Data indicate that disparities continue to exist in terms of the outcomes of some males, especially with regards to literacy. Socio-economic status, racial, linguistic, and cultural issues can heighten these inequities. For these underserved males[i], targeted interventions may be required to address issues of educational attainment and the needs of boys. There is no reason why schools/systems cannot target success for all students (Guerian & Stevens, 2004).

This article focuses on some of the educational issues affecting males and females. One of the common ways that educational data is deconstructed is by gender. Caveats must be noted. The World Health Organization or WHO, on their website indicate, “Gender and sex are related to but different from gender identity. Gender identity refers to a person’s deeply felt, internal and individual experience of gender, which may or may not correspond to the person’s physiology or designated sex at birth”[ii] It is one of the axis around which people frame their personalities. Medicine now recognizes that gender identity can be a fluid concept (2018)[iii]. While, the Ontario government gathers “Identity-based data, which refers to the socio-demographic information about a person including, but not limited to, their race, ethnicity, sexual orientation and gender identity.”[iv]

Brain research is contributing to how we understand achievement and attitude providing new knowledge in how boys and girls process information differently. Girls, as a group, appear to be more verbal and boys more physically active and better at spatial reasoning (Brizendine, 2006; Brozo, Sulkunen, Shiel, Garbe, Pandian & Valtin, 2014). Traditionally, schooling encourages compliance from students. Females are more likely, than their male peers, to be responsive to classroom norms for behaviour (King, 2013). Currently, schools emphasize more responsive, inquiry-based, student-centred learning to integrate students’ voice and choice. Differences remain for males and females (Guerian, Henley, Trueman, 2001; Zamosky, 2011). However, it is important to recognize that the differences among females, and among males, remain greater than the differences between males and females. The concern is not for all males; but for those boy/males and girls/females that are underserved and underachieve, requiring additional support to reach their potential. These achievement and attitudinal gaps have impacts into adulthood including issues such as underemployment, incarceration and suicide. This paper explores some of the relevant academic and attitudinal data.

Assessment Results: Why Data Matter

Provincial Data – Education Quality and Accountability Office -EQAO

The provincial goal remains that 75 percent of all students in grade 6 perform at or above the provincial standard (level 3 and 4) as measured by the provincial EQAO assessments. As the result of multiple inter-connected interventions designed to increase graduation rates, so now in Ontario, 85% of students, graduate high school within 5 years. However, according to the Ministry of Education (2019), fewer males (82%) than females (87%) complete their high school diploma. For Canada, the current data are that 81% of females complete high school, as compared to 71% of their male peers (Statistics Canada, 2019) During this next normal of COVID-19, the percentage of students, likely graduating high school is likely to decline.

For literacy in reading and writing, young men score lower than their female peers scored, both in terms of achievement, and in terms of attitude. Since passing the Ontario Secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) is a requirement to graduating high school, gendered literacy gaps can be impactful on future work/life opportunities. Adults without a high school diploma are more likely to be underemployed and poor. Increasing high school graduation continues to be a component of the poverty reduction strategy[v]

2017-2018, was the last time the provincial EQAO assessments were held and results analyzed and reported publicly. COVID -19 has interrupted the cycle of assessments to standards. EQAO is 100% aligned to the Ontario curriculum expectations.

Grade 3 & 6

The grades 3 and grade 6 assessments integrate reading, writing and mathematics,

• Grade 3 – Participating Students – 51% male, 19% identified with special education needs, excepting gifted
  • Reading – 74% at the provincial standard
    • 78% of girls to 71% of boys
    • 53 % of students with identified special education needs
  • Writing – 69% at the provincial standard
    • 76% of girls to 64% of boys
    • 54 % of students with identified special education needs
  • Mathematics – 58% at the provincial standard
    • 57% of girls to 60% of boys
    • 17 % of students with identified special education needs
• Grade 6 – Participating Students- also 51% male, 22% with special education needs excepting gifted
  • Reading – 81% at the provincial standard
    • 85% of girls to 77% of boys
    • 47% of students with identified special education needs
  • Writing –82% at the provincial standard
    • 88% of girls to 76% of boys
    • 47% of students with identified special education needs
  • Mathematics – 48% at the provincial standard
    • 48% of girls to 48% of boys
    • 26% of students with identified special education needs

Not only are the academic results gendered in reading and writing but also so are the attitudinal statements captured through student questionnaires. Attitude can be a predictor of achievement.

• 49% of grade 3 girls report they like to read as compared with 39% of boys
• 51% of grade 3 girls report they like to write as compared with 39% of boys
• 49% of grade 6 girls report they like to read as compared with 35% of boys
• 50% of grade 6 girls report they like to write as compared with 28 % of boys

These results indicate that both in terms of academic results and achievement for literacy boys are underachieving. This has implications for literacy acquisition and the OSSLT.

These results are reversed for mathematics, where more males report liking math and perceiving that they are good in math, than do their female peers; however, there is little differential in the actual achievement scores. This becomes an issue of self-efficacy, motivation and confidence, which has implications for courses and programs selected by males and females in secondary and post-secondary education.

• 51% of grade 3 girls report they like math as compared with 62% of boys
• 41% of grade 6 girls report they like math as compared with 58 % of boys

Grade 9 Mathematics

Grade 9 assessment focuses on mathematics. There are two major course options for grade 9 Mathematics, Academic (post-secondary bound) and Applied (school-to-work and some college courses). More males, racialized students, students of poverty and students with identified special education needs students are streamed into Applied Mathematics courses, which is one of the main reasons, why the Ontario government wants to end this practice of streaming for students in grades 9 and 10.

• 44% of students in Applied Math score at the provincial standard
  • 41% of students in Applied Math are female, and 41% of students in Applied Math are identified with special education needs
  • 41% of females as compared to 47% of males are at the provincial standard and only 37% of students with identified special education needs are at the provincial standard
• 84% of students in Academic Math are at the provincial standard
  • 51% of students in Academic Math are female, and 9% of students in Academic Math are identified with special education needs
  • 83 % of females as compared to 84 % of males are at the provincial standard and 70 % of students with identified special education needs are at the provincial standard

Again, the attitudinal results are gendered:

• For Academic Math, 52% of females as opposed to 63% of males report liking math and 48% of females as opposed to 60% of males report they are good in math
• For Applied Math, 29 % of females as opposed to 40% of males report liking math and 25 % of females as opposed to 38 % of males report they are good in math

OSSLT – Grade 10 Literacy

Passing the Ontario secondary School Literacy Test (OSSLT) is a mandatory requirement for obtaining an OSSD[vi]. Students have several opportunities to successfully pass the OSSLT, and are reported as First Time or as Previously Eligible[vii].

Results of Students who are First Time Eligible and Previously Eligible

First Time Eligible Students

• 80 % of fully participating students were successful
• 86% of all fully participating[viii] female students were successful as compared to 75% of their male peers
• 50% of students with identified special education needs
• In terms of demographics, 51% of First Time Eligible students are male, and 20% are identified as having special education needs
• 74% of students were enrolled in Academic English and 19% in Applied English
  • 91% of fully participating students in Academic English were successful
  • 41% of fully participating students in Applied English were successful
• 94% have a computer at home and 36% use one almost every day for homework

As was the case with the Grade 3 and 6 assessments, there is a gender gap with females out performing their male peers (86% to 75%). There are more males enrolled in Applied English and their chances of success on the OSSLT are diminished (EQAO, 2019). The ways literacy is taught, and the texts used often are not perceived as ‘boy-friendly’. So their engagement and opportunities for success may be diminished. Again, the caveat, this is some boys not all boys and some girls too are unsuccessful in the way literacies are taught in school (Bailey & Graves, 2016; Brozo, 2009; Martino & Berrill, 2004).

Previously Eligible Students (Already wrote the OSSLT once and were not successful)

• 50 % of fully participating students were successful
• 57 % of all fully participating[ix] female students were successful as compared to 46 % of their male peers
• 34% of students with identified special education needs students were successful

• In terms of demographics, 62% are male and 40% of females are identified as having special education needs
• 87% have a computer at home and 24% use one almost every day

Pan Canadian Assessments

Pan Canadian Assessment Program (PCAP)

This Canadian assessment supported by the provincial and territorial education ministers (CMEC) focuses on reading, mathematics and science. “It is part of the ongoing commitment of the Council of Ministers of Education, Canada (CMEC) to inform Canadians about how well their education systems are meeting the needs of students and society. Every three years, close to 30,000 Grade 8/Secondary II 2 students from across Canada are assessed with respect to their achievement of the curricular expectations common to all provinces and territories in three core learning domains.” (PCAP, 2016:1).

The primary domain in 2016, was reading as students engage in a variety of texts, which align with the global competencies. The key subdomains were

• Understanding texts
• Interpreting texts
• Responding personally to texts
• Responding critically to texts

In terms of performance:

• 88% of participating students achieved the expected baseline (Level 2) in reading
• 12% of participants did not achieve the competency level and 14% exceeded the baseline
• There was a gendered result in reading
  • Males – 494
  • Females – 521
• Across all provinces, males were more likely to score below the proficiency level and less likely to score in levels 3 and above
• 85% of males reached level 2 as compared to 90% of their female peers
• Males scored below their female peers across all four subdomains with the greatest gaps in interpreting texts (515 to 487) and responding critically by texts (516 to 485). This gender gap confirms the previously noted results in the EQAO provincial assessments.

For PCAP, in terms science, (505 to 511) and mathematics (512 to 511), the male to female results indicate there is virtually no statistically significant difference. This has been the result of concerted intentional interventions to raise young women’s knowledge, skills, confidence and abilities in STEM.

International Assessments

PIRLS

Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS), 2016 involved 50 countries, administered by the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA). Every five years, the assessment explores how well grade 4 students read and use their reading skills to learn. Grade 4 is considered a benchmark year. It is offered as PIRLS and e-PIRLS. Although, Canada is considered among the most literate nations it is important to understand the data on literacy achievement. For PIRLS, literacy is the ability to understand, use and construct meaning from a variety of language forms (2016). These are skills required for an educated, employed citizenship. The subdomains include:

• Focusing and retrieving explicitly stated information
• Making straightforward inferences
• Interpreting and integrating ideas and information
• Examining and critiquing content and textual elements

“It is of the utmost importance to be able to identify, as quickly as possible, those areas in which students encounter difficulties, so as to enable Canadian parents and educators to intervene early. If Canada is to remain among the most literate countries in the world, several questions need to be answered: What are the home, school, and classroom factors that influence reading in the early years of schooling? What characterizes those students who struggle in reading? What can be done at home to support children in the early years when they transition from learning to read to reading to learn? How can education systems address reading achievement disparities among ethnic, language, and socioeconomic groups? The data collected by PIRLS combined with other data sources may help answer these questions” (PIRLS, 2016:5).

Assessments results:

• 83 % of Canadian participants reached the Intermediate International Benchmark (475), 50% reach the High Benchmark (550) and 14% the Advance level[x] and 13% the low International Benchmark (400)
• For Canadian females, 85 % of Canadian participants reached the Intermediate International Benchmark (475), 53 % reach the High Benchmark (550) and 14% the Advance level[xi]
• For Canadian males, 81 % of Canadian participants reached the Intermediate International Benchmark (475), 46 % reach the High Benchmark (550) and 11 % the Advance level[xii]

TIMSS

Another assessment, Canadians participate in is the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study or TIMSS also conducted by IEA.

TIMSS measures trends in mathematics and science achievement for the equivalent of grades 4 and Grade 8/Secondary II. Conducted every 4 years, over half a million students from 55 countries globally, participated. TIMSS measures important knowledge and skills such as problem-solving, financial literacy and appropriately selecting data and justifying the use of data to respond to the question. Like PIRLS the results are divided by proficiency levels with intermediate at 475 points and high at 550 points and advanced at 625 points

Grade 4 mathematics and science Canadian students’ results:

• 90% achieved at least the low level and 69% the intermediate level compared to 75% internationally in math
• 90% achieved at least the low level and 77 % the intermediate level compared to 77% internationally in science
• There was no gender difference in overall mathematics achievement internationally; however, in Canada males outscored females by 9 points

The sub-domains for Math were

• Knowing
  • Male 509 – Female 502
• Applying
  • Male 514 – Female 506
• Reasoning
  • Male 509 – Female 502

Grade 8 Mathematics and Science Canadian students’ results:

• 90% achieved at least the low level and 78 % the intermediate level compared to 62 % internationally in math
• 90% achieved at least the low level and 78 % the intermediate level compared to 64 % internationally in science[xiii]
• There was no gender difference in overall mathematics achievement internationally; however, in Canada males slightly outscored females by 9 points

The sub-domains for Grade 8 Math were

• Knowing
  • Male 523 – Female 518
• Applying
  • Male 531 – Female 526
• Reasoning
  • Male 536 – Female 532

In science, there was no gender gap for Grade 8 students internationally or for Canada (215: 44). The largest gender gap was for the sub-component of ‘knowing’ where males scored higher (524 to 512). This closing of the gap has been the intentional implementation of specific initiatives designed to boost females ‘achievement in science and mathematics.

PISA –Programme for International Student Assessment

PISA is considered the standard among international assessments. The assessment is for 15 year olds. PISA assesses mathematics, science and reading and for every assessment the area of focus changes and in 2018, the emphasis was on reading. PISA is a collaborative effort among the member nations/jurisdictions of the OECD. It provides information on both the educational effectiveness of the participants’ elementary and secondary preparedness, and the data are deconstructed including by gender. Other areas that influenced achievement included socio-demographics, including whether the student was an immigrant or the child of immigrants.

On PISA 2018, 86% of Canadian students, and 77% of participating students within the OECD performed at or above level 2 or the baseline in reading, which is the minimum to participate within modern society.

• 15% of Canadian students performed at level 5 or higher as compared to 9% for OECD
• Canada scored above Finland in reading, second to Singapore (Macao and Hong Kong scored higher as jurisdictions of the PRC)
• In terms of gender, 90% of Canadian 15 year old females scored at level 2 as compared to 82% of males and a higher percentage of females scored at level 5 or higher, and a higher percentage of boys scored below level 2 proficiency
• “On average across Canada, girls outperformed boys by 29% of the 2018 reading component of PISA” (CMEC: 27). This literacy-gendered gap has implications for graduation and future employment.
• In mathematics, 84% of 15 year old Canadians and 76% of students in the OECD scored at level 2, which is the baseline for mathematical proficiency and 15% of Canadians students performed at level 5 or higher as compared to 11 % for OECD
• In Science, 87% of 15 year old Canadians and 78% of students in the OECD scored at level 2, which is the baseline for mathematical proficiency and 11% of Canadians students performed at level 5 or higher as compared to 7 % for OECD
• In the mathematics and science components, Canada scored in the top 10 nations
• There was no significant gender difference in science and mathematics. Males continue to slightly outperform females in mathematics
• The gender differences were in attitude, for instance 31% of male top-performing students in mathematics and science had expectations to be an engineer or in a science related field, as compared to 14% of females, whereas 18% of males anticipated a job in the health professions as opposed to 40% of females

Post-Secondary

As North American girls are moving into university, they have more career options than did their grandmothers, mothers and aunts. The proportion of women aged 25-65 with a university certificate or degree grew at a faster rate than males (Statistics Canada, 2018).

In fact, 60% of all Canadian undergraduates are female (Ferguson, 2016). In their 2016 Canada’s Youth in Transition survey, Statistics Canada found that males were less engaged in school and more likely to drop out of post-secondary studies. In 2015, 26% of females held a college diploma as opposed to 19% of males. The reverse is for trades certificate. The percentage of women with trade certification is declining from 10% in 1991 to 7% in 2015 as compared the males where 15% hold a trade certificate (Statistics Canada, 2016). For females, their apprenticeship registration is in traditional female careers and low for traditionally male careers:

• Hairdressing (90%)
• ECE (94%)
• User support technicians (54%)
• Welding (7.7%)
• Automotive services (6.1%)
• Machinists (5.1%)

Addressing the Educational Needs of Males

The Queen University 2009 study led by Dr. Alan King’s on transitions to post-secondary concluded that male’s aspirations are diminishing. This under-achieving and gender gaps are exacerbated and complicated by challenges resulting from trauma and negative experiences resulting from poverty, race, ethnicity, language (English/French Language Learners) and multi-generational trauma for Indigenous students. The synopsis of the study, as reported by St. Lawrence College noted that:

A relationship was evident between achievement, secondary school graduation and transition to post-secondary education as early as Grade 9. For example, one failed course in Grade 9 reduced the high school graduation rate by over 20 percent. Females achieved higher than males on average, and more females (57.7 percent) than males (42.3 percent) registered in university directly from secondary school. Three times as many males (74.7 percent) as females (25.3 percent) took up an apprenticeship directly from secondary school.

Another added complexity is that males as a targeted group tend to be over-identified in terms of special education. Males are over-represented in exceptionalities such as learning disabilities and behaviour. In Ontario, in 2017 between 60-63% of students identified with special education needs are male.[xiv] When challenges of English Language Learners (ELLL and poverty are factored in, these males perform less successfully, than do their middle-class peers. Middle class male students outperform female students in challenging circumstances. Gender is one of a series of inter-related factors influencing achievement. If fathers are absent, the figures for dropouts are exacerbated (Brown, 2011).

In terms of Canadian incarceration rates, 93% of those in prison are male[xv]. Males are less likely to seek help and more likely to be injured or die in a gun-related incident. Of 2,547 deaths in an Ontario study on mental health and gun deaths, only 176 who died were female (Anderssen, 2020). Educational achievement, steady employment are factors in harm reduction.

If some cohorts of males are under-achieving, what can be done to improve achievement from a position of equity of outcome? The Literacy and Numeracy Secretariat in partnership with the Curriculum Assessment and Policy Branch developed a Boys and Achievement initiative. A symposium on Boys, Literacy and Achievement was held in 2005 and the Me Read? No Way!, resource developed.

Some of the suggestions for moving forward included:

• Provincial symposiums on the boys and issues of schooling,
• Provincial grant initiatives for boy-friendly pedagogical resources and strategies,
• Grants to libraries to expand texts that were informative, action, biographies and other boy-friendly materials,
• Exploring initiatives to retrain more males in school to complete their high school diploma. This was one pressure that eventually led to Student Success in high schools and the Specialist High Skills Major program, and
• Continued tracking of the data.

Data reveal that gender matters to schooling and that some males still are underserved and their life opportunities diminished. Collectively, we need ways to engage young men and increase their achievement and attitudes when it comes to critical literacies and schooling. We need to gather and incorporate the perspectives of school-aged males, developing strategies and support cohorts that are currently underserved. The intersections of class, race, gender and language intersect. These interact with the societal expectations of what it means to be male. We need to realize excellence and equity for all. This requires revisiting, re-thinking and disrupting the way we currently design and deliver education.

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Endnotes

[i] Influencing factors include socio-economic status, educational attainment of parents, English Language learners, and racialized groups (king, 2013)

[ii] https://www.who.int/health-topics/gender#tab=tab_1

[iii] https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/232363

[iv] http://www.children.gov.on.ca/htdocs/English/professionals/childwelfare/CYFSA/policy_directive_CW005-17.aspx

[v] https://www.ontario.ca/page/poverty-reduction-strategy-annual-report-2018

[vi] Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD)

[vii] Written the OSSLT more than once. If students fail the OSSLT they can take the Ontario secondary School Literacy Course

[viii] Attended all of the assessment and were not absent or left early

[ix] Attended all of the assessment and were not absent or left early

[x] The specific descriptions of each level can be found on page 22 of the report

[xi] The specific descriptions of each level can be found on page 22 of the report

[xii] The specific descriptions of each level can be found on page 22 of the report

[xiii] Grade 8 Canadian students outscored their international peers in science and math

[xiv] http://edu.gov.on.ca/eng/document/policy/os/onschools_2017e.pdf

[xv]https://www.bop.gov/about/statistics/statistics_inmate_gender.jsp