A recent study has revealed a significant decline in academic performance among female students in the U.S. following the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly when compared to their male counterparts.
On Sunday, The Wall Street Journal reported that an analysis of test scores from U.S. elementary and secondary school students has shown that, since the pandemic in 2019, the academic achievement of female students has dropped to its lowest point in decades.
The results of 15 national exams conducted after the pandemic demonstrated a concerning trend: in every case, female students’ scores fell more sharply than male students.
While male students also saw a decline in their scores, the drop was notably more severe for female students. Specifically, male students outperformed females in mathematics. In the international 8th-grade math and science exams, female students were generally on par with their male peers in 2019. However, by 2023, their scores in both subjects had fallen behind those of male students.
Educators, parents, and researchers have yet to pinpoint the exact causes of this gender gap in academic performance. Still, some suggest that teachers may have paid more attention to male students, who were generally more active during the pandemic’s remote learning phase.
According to the Wall Street Journal, another possible factor is that many female students dedicated more time to caregiving and household responsibilities during and after the pandemic, which may have left them with less time and energy to focus on their studies.
Furthermore, the Wall Street Journal noted that this decline in female students’ academic performance is likely not confined to the U.S. alone, pointing to the need for international research to understand this global issue better.
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