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

University Of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia PA

Investigators

Abstract

SES-1023911 Hyunjoon Park Jere Bechrman University of Pennsylvania Despite 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.