For many years it was believed that boys were superior to girls in math, but research in the current issue of the journal Science reports that the gender gap has become a myth. Janet Hyde, a psychologist at University of Wisconsin, and her collaborators at University of Wisconsin and University of California, Berkeley culled data from federally mandated (No Child Left Behind) annual math tests administered in 2005, 2006, and 2007 to 7.2 million second- through 11th-grade students in 10 states. They found little difference between boys' and girls' average math scores. The study was funded by the National Science Foundation.

Today, girls are increasingly sticking with math classes through school, with girls and boys taking advanced math in high school in equal numbers and women receiving nearly half of all bachelor degrees given in math in the U.S.

Even though girls increasingly take the most difficult math classes, and girls and boys now perform equally well in math in school, researchers still need to better understand why females seem less likely to pursue careers in math-intensive technology and science fields. Currently, women make up only 15% of doctoral candidates in engineering programs. Furthermore, despite evidence that girls are performing as well as boys in math classes, many parents and teachers still believe girls struggle in math.

The study's most disturbing finding, the authors say, is that state tests mandated by the NCLB law are doing a poor job of challenging both boys and girls, as few tough math problems being asked. Using a four-level rating scale, with level one being easiest, the authors said that they found no challenging level-three or -four questions on most state tests. The authors worry that teachers may start dropping harder math from their curriculums because "more teachers are gearing their instruction to the test."

To learn more about this study, read the current issue of the journal Science.

Time Magazine contains an article titled “The Myth of the Math Gender Gap.”