In a recent paper, I examined MAP® Growth™ data from nearly 12 million students across nine kindergarten cohorts (2016-17 through 2024-25) to understand how math achievement differs for boys and girls from the moment they enter school through the end of fifth grade. The findings challenge widely held assumptions about how schools disadvantage boys and reveal a consistent pattern: Boys start school on a mostly even footing with girls in math, and by the end of elementary school, they hold a clear advantage.
Across all the years of our study, girls have a sizable advantage over boys in reading skills at school entry (ranging from 0.12 to 0.17 SDs). During the kindergarten year, the gap narrows slightly with boys catching up marginally (improvements of 0 to .03 SDs, as shown in the