Honors College Thesis
 

Examining Early Gender Disparities in Academic Performance: A Pre-School Analysis of Gender Differences and Observations in Academic Assessments

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https://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/concern/honors_college_theses/6m311x87h

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  • Executive function (EF) is an extensively researched topic as a predictor for academic achievements for children. Delineated as qualities of self-regulation, EF prepares a child to produce successful behaviors for their learning and social environments. Entering school with sufficient self-regulation skills is proven advantageous for scholarly performance. Within the early years of life, self-regulation develops at an accelerated rate, and the preschool years display major transformations in executive capacities. Gender differences in brain development give reason to evaluate whether disparities in academic achievement between sexes may be accounted by developmental differences of self-regulation. Previous studies have showed specific subsets of skills, such as math, spatial skills, visual processing, where a significant male gender advantage is present. Conversely, additional research has highlighted a significant female advantage in literacy, processing speed, and general intelligence. However, minimal research has evaluated differences in self-regulation development within the preschool years and whether a gender advantage is present. The purpose of this research is to investigate the emergence of gender disparities in academic achievement and determine the age at which they manifest, utilizing assessment measures: HTKS, WJAP, WJLW. Results revealed that there was no significant difference in gender between all three variables; although, gender differences were approaching the significance threshold in the HTKS and WJLW measure. Interestingly, age and ethnicity were indicated as predictors linked to performance across all measures. In particular, the strongest contributor to score improvement in all measures was age. Implications and limitations are discussed in determining gender differences in self-regulation.
  • Keywords: HTKS (Head-Toes-Knees-Shoulders), EF (executive function), WJLW (Woodcock-Johnson letter word), WJAP (Woodcock-Johnson applied problems), Self-regulation
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