Gender Performance Gaps Across Different Assessment Methods and the Underlying Mechanisms: The Case of Incoming Preparation and Test Anxiety
A persistent “gender penalty” in exam performance disproportionately impacts women in large introductory science courses, where exam grades generally account for the majority of the students' assessment of learning. Previous work in introductory biology demonstrates that some social psychologic...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2019-09-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Education |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/feduc.2019.00107/full |
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| author | Shima Salehi Sehoya Cotner Samira M. Azarin Erin E. Carlson Michelle Driessen Vivian E. Ferry William Harcombe Suzanne McGaugh Deena Wassenberg Azariah Yonas Cissy J. Ballen |
| author_facet | Shima Salehi Sehoya Cotner Samira M. Azarin Erin E. Carlson Michelle Driessen Vivian E. Ferry William Harcombe Suzanne McGaugh Deena Wassenberg Azariah Yonas Cissy J. Ballen |
| author_sort | Shima Salehi |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | A persistent “gender penalty” in exam performance disproportionately impacts women in large introductory science courses, where exam grades generally account for the majority of the students' assessment of learning. Previous work in introductory biology demonstrates that some social psychological factors may underlie these gender penalties, including test anxiety and interest in course content. In this paper, we examine the extent that gender predicts performance across disciplines, and investigate social psychological factors that mediate performance. We also examine whether a gender penalty persists beyond introductory courses, and can be observed in more advanced upper division science courses. We ran analyses (1) across two colleges at a single institution: the College of Biological Sciences and the College of Science and Engineering (i.e., physics, chemistry, materials science, math); and (2) across introductory lower division courses and advanced upper division courses, or those that require a prerequisite. We affirm that exams have disparate impacts based on student gender at the introductory level, with female students underperforming relative to male students. We did not observe these exam gender penalties in upper division courses, suggesting that women are either being “weeded out” at the introductory level, or “warming to” timed examinations. Additionally, results from mediation analyses show that across disciplines and divisions, for women only, test anxiety negatively influences exam performance. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T03:57:35Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-65e0442437d04bf49ad3f3645d22c0a1 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2504-284X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T03:57:35Z |
| publishDate | 2019-09-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Education |
| spelling | doaj.art-65e0442437d04bf49ad3f3645d22c0a12022-12-21T18:39:50ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Education2504-284X2019-09-01410.3389/feduc.2019.00107470804Gender Performance Gaps Across Different Assessment Methods and the Underlying Mechanisms: The Case of Incoming Preparation and Test AnxietyShima Salehi0Sehoya Cotner1Samira M. Azarin2Erin E. Carlson3Michelle Driessen4Vivian E. Ferry5William Harcombe6Suzanne McGaugh7Deena Wassenberg8Azariah Yonas9Cissy J. Ballen10Graduate School of Education, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, United StatesDepartment of Biology Teaching and Learning, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United StatesDepartment of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United StatesDepartment of Chemistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United StatesDepartment of Chemistry, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United StatesDepartment of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United StatesDepartment of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United StatesDepartment of Ecology, Evolution and Behavior, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United StatesDepartment of Biology Teaching and Learning, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United StatesDepartment of Biology Teaching and Learning, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, United StatesDepartment of Biological Sciences, Auburn University, Auburn, AL, United StatesA persistent “gender penalty” in exam performance disproportionately impacts women in large introductory science courses, where exam grades generally account for the majority of the students' assessment of learning. Previous work in introductory biology demonstrates that some social psychological factors may underlie these gender penalties, including test anxiety and interest in course content. In this paper, we examine the extent that gender predicts performance across disciplines, and investigate social psychological factors that mediate performance. We also examine whether a gender penalty persists beyond introductory courses, and can be observed in more advanced upper division science courses. We ran analyses (1) across two colleges at a single institution: the College of Biological Sciences and the College of Science and Engineering (i.e., physics, chemistry, materials science, math); and (2) across introductory lower division courses and advanced upper division courses, or those that require a prerequisite. We affirm that exams have disparate impacts based on student gender at the introductory level, with female students underperforming relative to male students. We did not observe these exam gender penalties in upper division courses, suggesting that women are either being “weeded out” at the introductory level, or “warming to” timed examinations. Additionally, results from mediation analyses show that across disciplines and divisions, for women only, test anxiety negatively influences exam performance.https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/feduc.2019.00107/fullgenderSTEM equityhigh stakes assessmenttest anxietymediation analysis |
| spellingShingle | Shima Salehi Sehoya Cotner Samira M. Azarin Erin E. Carlson Michelle Driessen Vivian E. Ferry William Harcombe Suzanne McGaugh Deena Wassenberg Azariah Yonas Cissy J. Ballen Gender Performance Gaps Across Different Assessment Methods and the Underlying Mechanisms: The Case of Incoming Preparation and Test Anxiety Frontiers in Education gender STEM equity high stakes assessment test anxiety mediation analysis |
| title | Gender Performance Gaps Across Different Assessment Methods and the Underlying Mechanisms: The Case of Incoming Preparation and Test Anxiety |
| title_full | Gender Performance Gaps Across Different Assessment Methods and the Underlying Mechanisms: The Case of Incoming Preparation and Test Anxiety |
| title_fullStr | Gender Performance Gaps Across Different Assessment Methods and the Underlying Mechanisms: The Case of Incoming Preparation and Test Anxiety |
| title_full_unstemmed | Gender Performance Gaps Across Different Assessment Methods and the Underlying Mechanisms: The Case of Incoming Preparation and Test Anxiety |
| title_short | Gender Performance Gaps Across Different Assessment Methods and the Underlying Mechanisms: The Case of Incoming Preparation and Test Anxiety |
| title_sort | gender performance gaps across different assessment methods and the underlying mechanisms the case of incoming preparation and test anxiety |
| topic | gender STEM equity high stakes assessment test anxiety mediation analysis |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/feduc.2019.00107/full |
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