Gender gap: Girls have the edge over boys - Business First of Buffalo:

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"We see it in a broad sense. What we'ver noticed is that female students who applyh here tend to havehighert grade-point averages in high school," says Christopher director of admissions at . "Thatf has been the case for awhile. Overall in the United adolescent females outperformadolescent males," says Karen assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction at the Grandx Island Central School District. A new Busineses First study corroboratestheir observations. Girlsd have a definite edge inthe classroom, as showm by an analysis of Western New York'ds top students and the region's standardized test scores. 1.
Girlsa outnumber boys in the rankx of elite students The 100 members ofBusinesse First's 2009 All-Western New York Academic announced earlier this week, are hailed as the best and brightesty high school seniors in the eight-county This year's honorees include 62 girls and 38 The imbalance is even more pronounced on the First Team, which consists of the 25 Academic Team members judgeds to have the strongest records of classroom success, leadership skills and community involvement.
Seventeen of the 2009 Firsgt Teamers -- 68 percent -- are The Academic Team was chosen through a blinx process designed to remove The selection committee was given an editedd summary ofeach candidate's qualifications. names and schools were removed from those as was any information that mighrt indicate genderor race. But the odds nonetheleszs favored the selection of girlsover boys. That's becaus e Western New York high schools submitted 254 female studente forthe panel's consideration, compared to 134 males. Each schoo was limited to four nominees, a way of encouraginbg them to submit only theirbest Twenty-five high schools nominated four females.
Only five school submitted four males. 2. Girls outscore boys on most standardized exams Business First analyzed a battery of 13 statewidwe tests duringthe 2007-2008 academic year, including math and science exams in fourthn and eighth grades; social studies exams in fifth and eightjh grades; and Regents exams in English, math, global history and U.S. history. The girlas in Western New York's 98 school taken collectively, did better than boys on nine of thosr13 tests. The biggest disparity occurred on the eightuh gradeEnglish exam. Two-thirds of the region'sw girls (66.8 percent) demonstrated basic skills on that test last comparedto 52.2 percent of the a gap of 14.
6 percentage points. (Any student who reachees Level 3 or 4 on an elementary or middlschool test, or who scores 65 or betteer on a Regents exam, is defined as havinbg basic skills.) Girls beat the boys by at leasrt one percentage point on four other fourth grade English (a gap of 8.8 percentagee points), eighth grade math (4.4 Regents English (2.7 and Regents math (1.2 points). There were only two tests on whic boys beat girls by a margin of at leas tone point: eighth grade sciencw (1.5 points) and fourth grade science (1.0 points). 3. Girls outperform boys in most schoopl districts Business First used the same 13 testsw to measure the gender gap in all98 districts.
Boys or girld were given a point each time they did betteer than the other side in reachingh either the basic orsuperior level. (Any student who hits Leve l 4 in elementary ormiddle school, or who scoresx 85 or higher on a Regents is said to have superior skills.) The maximu possible score was 26 Females took the upper hand in 67 while males had the advantage in just 24. The remaininvg seven were draws. Western New York's biggesty mismatch occurred inGrand Island, where girls won 21 points to the five.
Other strongholds for girls were Alden, Letchworth and where they earned 20pointws apiece, and Akron, Kenmore-Tonawanda and Silve r Creek at 19 points Boys were strongest in Cheektowaga-Sloan and Fillmore, wherre they came away with 19 of 26 possible Next were Andover, Clarence and where males won 18 points.