A Middle School Drop: Consistent Gender Differences in Students' Self-Efficacy. Working Paper

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  • Additional Information
    • Availability:
      Policy Analysis for California Education, PACE. 520 Galvez Mall, CERAS Room 401, Stanford, CA 94305-3001. Tel: 650-724-2832; Fax: 510-642-9148; e-mail: [email protected]; Web site: http://www.edpolicyinca.org
    • Peer Reviewed:
      N
    • Source:
      31
    • Sponsoring Agency:
      Institute of Education Sciences (ED)
      S.D. Bechtel, Jr. Foundation
    • Contract Number:
      R305B090016
    • Education Level:
      Junior High Schools
      Middle Schools
      Secondary Education
      Elementary Education
      High Schools
    • Subject Terms:
      Gender Differences; Middle School Students; Self Efficacy; Elementary School Students; Racial Differences; Ethnicity; Socioeconomic Status; Institutional Characteristics; School Culture; Educational Environment; Self Esteem; Student Attitudes; High School Students; Student School Relationship; Discipline; Standards; School Safety
    • Subject Terms:
      California
    • Abstract:
      Academic self-efficacy is a student's belief about their ability to learn or to perform within a school environment. This paper captures differential trends in academic self-efficacy by gender using self-efficacy survey data from five large districts in California from the 2014-15 through 2017-18 school years. We find that female students report significantly higher self-efficacy in elementary school compared to males. In middle school, students' self-efficacy declines for both genders; however, this drop is substantially greater for females, leading to significantly lower levels of reported self-efficacy for females than males from middle school onward. Despite large differences in average self-efficacy, this gendered pattern of drop-off occurs consistently across racial, socioeconomic, and academic subgroups. Average self-efficacy also varies significantly among schools; however, school demographics and culture and climate, as reported by students, are not strongly associated with the average female-male self-efficacy gap. Looking at how the general measure of academic self-efficacy corresponds with test scores, we find the drops in self-efficacy are most pronounced for low scoring students, and that changes in grade-to-grade test scores modestly correlate with changes in general academic self-efficacy.
    • Abstract:
      As Provided
    • IES Funded:
      Yes
    • Publication Date:
      2019
    • Accession Number:
      ED600446