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Long-Term Trend
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Trends in Average Mathematics Scale Scores by Gender

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KEY FINDINGS
  • At all three ages.  In 2004, male students scored higher than female students only at ages 13 and 17. At age 9, the apparent difference was not statistically significant. 
  • Nine-year-olds. Average scale scores for males and females were higher in 2004 than in any previous assessment year.
    • The score gap between males and females shifted by 5 points between 2004 and 1973. Females outscored males by 2 points in 1973, while males outscored females by 3 points in 2004. 
  • Thirteen-year-olds. Average scale scores for males and females were higher in 2004 than in any other assessment year.
    • The score gap between males and females shifted by 5 points between 2004 and 1973. Females outscored males by 2 points in 1973, while males outscored females by 3 points in 2004.   
  • Seventeen-year-olds. Female students scored higher in 2004 than in 1973, but average scale scores for males and females between 2004 and 1999 were not statistically different.
    • The score gap between males and females decreased by 5 points between 2004 and 1973. 

Trends in average mathematics scale scores and score gaps for students ages 9, 13, and 17, by gender: 1973–2004 click for additional information

Trends in average mathematics scale scores and score gaps for students age 9, by gender: Selected years, 1973–2004

Trends in average mathematics scale scores and score gaps for students age 13, by gender: Selected years, 1973–2004

Trends in average mathematics scale scores and score gaps for students age 17, by gender: Selected years, 1973–2004

View data with standard errors for age 9, age 13, and age 17.

# The estimate rounds to zero.
* Significantly different from 2004.
1 Male average scale score minus female average scale score. Negative numbers indicate that the average scale score for male students was lower than the score for female students.
NOTE: Dashed lines represent extrapolated data. Score gaps are calculated based on differences between unrounded average scale scores. SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), selected years, 1973–2004 Long-Term Trend Mathematics Assessments.
Last updated 06 July 2005 (RF)