Working Paper: NBER ID: w19331
Authors: Nicole M. Fortin; Philip Oreopoulos; Shelley Phipps
Abstract: Using three decades of data from the "Monitoring the Future" cross-sectional surveys, this paper shows that, from the 1980s to the 2000s, the mode of girls' high school GPA distribution has shifted from "B" to "A", essentially "leaving boys behind" as the mode of boys' GPA distribution stayed at "B". In a reweighted Oaxaca-Blinder decomposition of achievement at each GPA level, we find that gender differences in post-secondary expectations, controlling for school ability, and as early as 8th grade are the most important factor accounting for this trend. Increases in the growing proportion of girls who aim for a post-graduate degree are sufficient to account for the increase over time in the proportion of girls earning "A's". The larger relative share of boys obtaining "C" and C+" can be accounted for by a higher frequency of school misbehavior and a higher proportion of boys aiming for a two-year college degree.
Keywords: Gender Disparities; Academic Achievement; Educational Expectations
JEL Codes: I20; J16; J24
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Educational aspirations (I23) | GPA (C00) |
| Proportion of girls aiming for postgraduate degrees (A23) | Proportion of girls earning high grades (A's) (I24) |
| Boys' misbehavior and aspirations for two-year college degrees (D29) | Larger relative share of boys obtaining lower grades (C's) (I24) |
| Noncognitive skills (G53) | Gender differences in academic performance (D29) |
| Family environment (J12) | Gender differences in academic performance (D29) |
| Educational expectations (I21) | Gender achievement gap (I24) |
| Educational expectations of girls (I24) | Increasing share of high grades (D29) |