Single-Sex High Schools and Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) Careers

尽管在过去的几十年里，美国和其他发达国家的女性在整体教育水平上取得了显著进步，但在科学、技术、工程和数学(STEM)大学的专业和职业中，女性的比例远远低于男性。拟议的项目将调查某一特定教育机构--单一性别高中--是否能够帮助克服STEM学习和兴趣方面的性别差异。虽然该项目的主要目的是评估就读全女生学校的女生与就读男女同校学校的女生之间在STEM成果方面的差异，但也将系统地研究就读全男生学校的男生与就读男女同校学校的男生之间的差异。与之前的研究相比，该项目的一个关键改进是使用了来自韩国的数据，在韩国，学生被随机分配到单一性别高中和男女同校高中。在韩国，学生随机分配到高中，这使得解决之前大多数研究因使用观察数据而遭受的选择偏见成为可能。具体地说，这项研究将使用两个不同的全国代表性高中生数据集，探索单一性别高中如何提高高中生的能力？数学和科学考试成绩，还有高中生呢？对STEM大学专业的期望。特别是，该项目将侧重于与单一性别高中影响学生STEM成绩的机制有关的问题。该项目经验性地测试了先前文献所建议的单一性别学校的三种机制：更好的学术氛围，更好的师生关系/互动，以及增强学生？数学和科学的自我概念/自我效能感。由于随机化，标准的普通最小二乘(用于数学和科学考试成绩等连续指标)和有限的因变量(如对STEM大学专业的期望)估计器将对单一性别学校的影响做出公正的估计。通过实证检验为什么单一性别学校可能比男女同校学校更有效的三种解释，该项目将能够在理解单一性别学校可能如何影响高中向STEM职业发展的重要指标方面取得重大进展。更广泛的影响。该项目承诺将大大改善我们对女子高中是否是扩大女学生参与STEM职业生涯的重要机构的理解。通过确定据称产生单一性别学校效应的机制，该项目的影响超出了独特的韩国背景，并影响到包括美国在内的其他国家。项目成果将通过在学术读者群和普通读者的期刊上发表，传播给校长、教师和教育政策制定者。鉴于包括美国在内的几个国家对单一性别学校越来越感兴趣，将其作为解决包括STEM结果在内的教育差距的一种手段，该项目的发现将为最近扩大单一性别教育的教育努力提供及时的证据。

SES-1023911Hyunjoon ParkJere BechrmanUniversity of PennsylvaniaDespite the significant progress of women in overall educational attainment during the last few decades in the United States and other developed countries, the proportion of females in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) college majors and occupations is much smaller than the proportion of males. The proposed project will investigate whether one particular educational institution--single-sex high schools--can help overcome gender disparities in STEM learning and interest. Although the major interest of the project is to assess differences in STEM outcomes between girls attending all-girls schools and their counterparts attending coeducational schools, differences between boys attending all-boys schools and those attending coeducational schools will be also systematically examined. A critical improvement of this project over previous research is the usage of data from South Korea where students are randomly assigned into single-sex versus coeducational high schools. The random assignment of students into high schools in Korea makes it possible to address selection biases from which most previous studies have suffered because they use observational data. Specifically, using two different datasets of nationally representative high school students, the study will explore how single-sex high schools enhance high school students? mathematics and science test scores, and high school students? expectations of STEM college majors. In particular, the project will focus on issues related to the mechanisms through which single-sex high schools influence students' STEM outcomes. The project empirically tests three mechanisms of single-sex schools, suggested by previous literature: better academic climates, better teacher-student relations/interactions, and enhanced students? self-concept/self-efficacy in mathematics and science. Because of the randomization, standard ordinary least squares (for continuous measures such as mathematics and science test scores) and limited dependent variables (such as expecting a STEM college major) estimators will yield unbiased estimates of the effects of single-sex schools. By empirically testing three explanations of why single-sex schools might be more effective than coeducational schools, the project will be able to make significant advances in understanding how single-sex schools may have impacts on important high school indicators of advancement towards STEM careers. Broader Impacts. The project promises to make significant improvements in our understanding of whether all-girls high schools are an important institution to broaden participation of female students in STEM careers. By identifying mechanisms through which single-sex school effects are purportedly generated, the project has implications beyond the unique Korean setting to other countries including the US. Project findings will be disseminated to school principals, teachers, and educational policymakers by publishing the results in journals that have general r as well as academic readership. In light of growing interest in single-sex schools in several countries including the US as a means for addressing educational disparities including STEM outcomes, the project findings will provide timely evidence regarding recent educational efforts to expand provision of single-sex schooling.