| Cornelius Riordan
Providence College
Male/female early achievement and development: Targeting the birth of the gender gap among children in the public schools
FINAL REPORT: This study employs data from the Early Childhood Longitudinal Study, Kindergarten Class of 1998-99 (ECLS-K) to examine patterns of cognitive achievement and social/emotional development for males and females as they enter kindergarten and move through the first grade. At the beginning of school, boys are handicapped by reading scores that are significantly lower than girls along with significantly lower scores on social rating scales. Teachers accord boys lower ratings in mathematics and general knowledge, even where there is no actual difference as determined by direct independent assessment. Most of the anti-social behavior manifested by boys can be accounted for by a set of later developing self-regulatory skills (especially motor skills), a set of home normative capital investments or lack of investments in the preparation of boys for the demands of schools. All of the reading test score deficiency can be accounted for by these self-regulatory and normative home variables. The readiness skills of boys are approximately equal to girls only if they enter at a later age.
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