[NIFL-4EFF:2423] Girls are better than boys in writing (also reading)

From: tom zurinskas (tzurinskas@yahoo.com)
Date: Wed Jul 16 2003 - 14:58:28 EDT


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Subject: [NIFL-4EFF:2423] Girls are better than boys in writing (also reading)
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Girls Far Outscore Boy in Writing  

NATIONAL CENTER FOR POLICY ANALYSIS
Friday, July 11, 2003     
 
Girls far outscored boys on the writing portion of the
National Assessment of Educational Progress, according
to new data released Thursday. It's the largest gender
gap of any major subject area tested by NAEP, the
federal tests often called "the nation's report card."


The NAEP writing test is given every four years to
fourth-, eighth- and 12th-graders. It is considered
perhaps the most respected of the nation's major
academic tests and allows comparisons between states. 

At all three grade levels tested, girls finished on
top by wide margins. 

Forty percent of eighth-grade girls scored high enough
on NAEP to be considered "proficient" under the test's
rules. Only 20 percent of boys did. 
To put it another way: If all of America's
eighth-grade girls moved to their own state, it would
have the fourth-highest writing scores in the country.

If all the boys moved to their own state, it would
rank 37th of the 41 states that NAEP tested. 
Writing advocates argued that writing still often gets
short shrift in schools that focus more on reading and
math skills -- often because of the way state testing
systems are structured. For example: 

The federal No Child Left Behind law passed last year
requires that states test students in reading and
math, but has no such requirement for writing. 
Texas' new statewide test assesses students in reading
every year from grades three to nine, but in writing
only twice, in grades four and seven. 
There are also two English language-arts exams that
combine reading and writing into one test. 
Source: Joshua Benton, "Report finds huge gender gap
in writing skills test," Dallas Morning News, July 11,
2003. 

For text
http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/071103dnmetreportcard.5f716.html


For National Report Card
http://customwire.ap.org/dynamic/files/specials/interactives/wdc/reading_writing_scores/index.html?SITE=TXDAM&TEMPLATE=EDUCATION.html


For more on Testing and SATs
http://www.ncpa.org/iss/edu/
 


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