Why the Difference?

The Why the Difference? conference addressed the fact that women choose STEM majors at less than half the rate men do. The reasons women aren’t choosing scientific and technical careers seem to be more related to engagement—passion for the subjects—and social issues than achievement. Across high schools, there are still some small differences between boys’ and girls’ scores on National Assessment of Educational Progress tests and college entrance exams, but they are not major. Also, girls take about the same course load as boys do. Women are capable of entering into STEM college majors at the same rate as men, but don’t.

For cultural groups, the differences are based in engagement, achievement, and access to high quality educational resources. Across America the achievement gaps in mathematics at 4th, 8th, and 12th grades between whites and students of color are 30-40 point spreads compared to 4-5 point spreads for gender differences. However, course taking among college-bound students is fairly comparable across cultural groups, with a few exceptions. There are overall preparedness gaps, as well, including the challenge of navigating through a complex career path.

“It is clear that girls graduate from high school with skills and knowledge comparable to boys, but few girls continue on in engineering and other physical and quantitative sciences. Relatively few African American, Hispanic, and American Indian students, female or male, graduate from high school with the skills and knowledge necessary to continue on in these fields,” says Patricia B. Campbell, Ph.D., president of Campbell-Kibler and Associates. Dr. Campbell, a visiting professor to the conference, specializes in educational research on achievement issues in STEM disciplines.

While the conference places a special focus on girls and students of color, there are issues of achievement across all groups. In national testing, the rates in math and science are still only in the 25 – 30% range for being at or above the proficiency level. At the same time, demands for a technically trained workforce keep rising in our region and the nation as a whole.

“The College of St. Catherine’s Why the Difference? conference addresses how K-12 teachers can create achievement and sustained engagement in these subjects for girls and minorities. Yet, a richer and more varied set of teaching skills has far greater effects. They will have the effect of raising the achievement and engagement of all students,” says Susan Goetz, co-director of the Center for Women, Science, and Technology. “Its primary focus is presenting and discussing best practices in teaching the STEM disciplines. Best practices are educational techniques which have been researched with comparison studies, and whose results show that students (or a subset of students) learn better with their use. “

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