Gender differences in reading and numeracy achievement across the school years

Damon P Thomas; Belinda Hopwood; Vesife Hatisaru; David Hicks

doi:10.1007/s13384-022-00583-8

Gender differences in reading and numeracy achievement across the school years

Aust Educ Res. 2022 Oct 21:1-26. doi: 10.1007/s13384-022-00583-8. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Damon P Thomas¹, Belinda Hopwood², Vesife Hatisaru², David Hicks²

Affiliations

¹ School of Education, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD 4072 Australia.
² School of Education, University of Tasmania, Launceston, TAS 7248 Australia.

Abstract

Developing students' reading and numeracy skills remain key goals of contemporary schooling. In Australia, the National Assessment Program - Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) tests have assessed these skills since 2008. Previous research found a significant gender gap in favour of females for the NAPLAN writing test, yet no study has examined whether gender gaps exist for reading and numeracy or their developmental pattern across the school years. Given the educational and public interest in NAPLAN and its considerable costs, it is important to understand what these tests reveal about student outcomes. The paper presents the first investigation of patterns of male and female student achievement on the NAPLAN reading and numeracy tests from 2008 to 2021. It applies the equivalent year level technique to explain the pedagogical significance of NAPLAN achievement and compares the findings with the writing gender gap to present a fuller picture of male and female achievement.

Keywords: Assessment; Gender; Numeracy; Reading; Standardised testing.