This from Education Week:

I believe it was released openly, so I’ll paste below:

Published in Print: November 11, 2009, as Teaching Girls to Tinker
Commentary

Teaching Girls to Tinker
By Lisa Damour

Girls now surpass boys in nearly every measure of academic success. A 2004 report from the National Center for Education Statistics confirmed that girls had higher educational goals than boys, were less likely to repeat a grade or drop out of school, took more Advanced Placement courses, and were more likely to go to and graduate from college.

Even in high school mathematics- a subject where boys have consistently held an edge-the playing field seems, somehow, to have leveled. As a 2008 report in the journal Science calmly declared, “Standardized tests in the U.S. indicate that girls now score just as well as boys in math.”

(more…)

… for rooting around in high schools to fine girls interested in science and engineering careers and doing something to encourage them. If colleges are going to be dominated by women, then we’ve got to find a way to bend the major curve so that more women pursue these majors and careers.

To review: Discovering why relatively few women pursue (and maintain) careers in math and science is important because due to gender imbalances on campuses we need more women pursuing those fields. Some feminists say (actionable) gender discrimination at the university level is the cause and Title 9 needs to kick into action.

If that were the true cause, I’d be in favor. But I’m skeptical. And so is Sally Shaywitz. This from today’s Chronicle:

Tenure-Track Jobs in Science and Math Are Open to Women, if They Want Them
Female professors seeking tenure-track positions in science and mathematics have generally found improving opportunities and upward mobility nationwide, according to a report released today by the National Research Council of the National Academies.

The report, “Gender Differences at Critical Transitions in the Careers of Science, Engineering, and Mathematics Faculty,” says that women fare as well as, if not better than, men in several areas.

Sally Shaywitz, a professor of learning development at Yale University and co-chair of the committee that wrote the report, pointed out that, while there wasn’t much evidence of gender inequality, not all women eligible for tenured posts seemed to be actively pursuing them.

“If you look at how many women were potentially eligible because they had received a Ph.D., and how many were applying, there was a real underrepresentation, especially in biology and chemistry,” said Dr. Shaywitz, who is also co-director of the Yale medical school’s Center for Dyslexia and Creativity.

While women spent more time as assistant professor than men did, they were more likely to receive tenure upon review, and “no significant gender disparity existed at the stage of promotion to full professor,” the report says.

“I don’t think we would have anticipated that in so many areas that there would have been such a balance in opportunities for men and women,” Dr. Shaywitz said.

One reason cited for an increase in positions held by female professors at some colleges was the presence of women in leadership posts at those institutions, where they play a role in recruiting female professors and serve on hiring committees.

The report provides information updating previous editions. A 2001 report and a 2005 report both showed how women were faring better than in previous years, and what colleges were doing to help further that trend. A 2006 report described biases and difficulties still facing female academics, and some ways to deal with them. -Marc Beja

Posted on Tuesday June 2, 2009 | Permalink |

In the big science contest in Canada, two thirds of the participants are girls. This is great news…let’s just hope they stick with the interest, including through graduate school and careers. If women pick up the slack from men, then we have no problem…as long as they actually pick up the slack. To date, the data suggest otherwise.