Females Pull Ahead In Math Scores In New Haven

Female students in New Haven began to outperform male students in the math sections of the CAPT test in the 2010-11 school year, for the first time in five years, according to data from the Connecticut Department of Education. From 2006 to 2010, the percentage of girls overall in New Haven schools who scored at or above the proficient level in math increased from 43.9 percent to 56.4 percent. While males previously had scored higher on the math test from 2006 to 2010, the percentage of boys who scored at or above proficiency in 2011 was 54.3 percent, with females surpassing them by 2.1 percentage points. The better performance by females comes as national studies have shown that the two genders learn math differently, with some educational experts expressing concerns about girls trailing behind boys in math. A 2010 study found that girls around the world are not worse at math than boys, although boys are more confident in their math abilities.