Science and Mathematics Education Commons^™

Gender Differences On The American Mathematics Competition Amc 8 Contest, Melissa A. Desjarlais

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This study examines gender differences on the American Mathematics Competition AMC 8 contest between 2003 and 2007 by comparing the performances of male and female United States eighth grade students after controlling for ability. During these years 183,857 males and 178,857 females participated in the contest. Research on gender differences frequently measures impact which is a difference in performance between two groups that can often be explained by different ability distributions. In contrast, differential item functioning (DIF) is a difference in performance after controlling for ability. Three types of analyses were performed to compare the performances. First, statistical analyses identified …