Mathematics and Science Achievement Profiles by Gender, Race, Ability, and Type of Item Response (original) (raw)

The purpose of this study was to determine patterns of gender and ethnic differences in science and mathematics achievement of fifth graders, taking into account student ability, item response format, and strands of learning outcomes. Subjects were 2,551 fifth graders from a large urban area in Ohio. The Ohio Off-Grade Proficiency Test was used. In mathematics, there were no gender differences, but there were ethnic differences that varied across ability levels and item response formats. In science, there were gender differences. The differences did not depend on ethnicity, but did vary across response formats, ability levels, and strands of learning outcomes. At the high ability level, boys did better than girls on open-ended format in physical sciences, but no gender differences were found in other science areas (nature of science, earth and space sciences, and life sciences). There were no gender differences in science achievement for the low and medium ability students. Regardless of gender, the largest gap between the achievement of the low, medium, and high ability students was on the open-ended format in physical sciences. (Contains 4 figures, 2 tables, and 34 references.) (Author/SLD)