Disproportionate number of women, minorities, and the poor

The Task Force on Women, Minorities, and the Handicapped in Science and Technology (1989) finds that women and minorities are seldom entering fields that require advanced mathematics and science degrees. Yet, jobs requiring math and science skills are growing at nearly double the rate of all jobs. As a result, one of the fastest growing sectors of our economy is significantly underrepresented by women and minorities:

• African-Americans make up 12 percent of the population, yet they earn only 5 percent of the bachelor's degrees and only 1 percent of the Ph.D.'s in mathematics and science. Only 2 percent of all employed scientists and engineers are African-Americans.

• Hispanics are 9 percent of the population, yet they hold only 3 percent of the bachelor's degrees, and only 2 percent of all Ph.D.'s in mathematics and science. Just 2 percent are employed in science and engineering.

• Native Americans make up 0.6 percent of the population, yet they hold only 0.3 percent of all bachelor's degrees and only 0.11 percent of all Ph.D.'s in science and engineering. They represent just 0.5 percent of all employed scientists and engineers.

• White women represent 43 percent of the population, but they earn only 22 percent of all bachelor's degrees, and only 13 percent of all Ph.D.'s in mathematics and science. A mere 10 percent of all scientists and engineers are white women.

This underrepresentation of women, minorities, and the poor is due to such factors as negative attitudes toward mathematics and science, limited exposure to extracurricular activities in mathematics and science, and lack of information about mathematics- and science-related careers. The most influential factors, however, are low participation rates in advanced courses and lower performance levels in courses and on standardized tests compared to white males (Clewell, 1992 [cited in Century, 1994]).

National and international assessments, including the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), have revealed low performance in mathematics by American students generally and especially by females, members of minority groups, and students from poor communities. Although the achievement gap between minority and white students has begun to narrow recently, Secada (1992) concludes that: "If the gap is truly narrowing, it would seem to be for African Americans only and only on items that reflect low-level and basic skills mastery."

Evidence of the narrowing of the gender gap in mathematics performance - probably due to the attention given to gender differences in mathematics since the mid-1970s - contains more cause for optimism. Results of the 1994 American College Testing (ACT) and Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT) show that girls are making strides in their academic preparation and test scores (NCTM News Bulletin, 1995). Despite these gains, the gap is closing slowly, and females continue to lag behind males in participation in the highest-level mathematics courses - i.e., calculus and physics.

In a review of the literature, Leder (1992) finds similar gender differences in higher-level mathematics courses and related applied fields. Leder also reports that females score lower than males on higher-level cognitive test questions. Differences in the ways males and females regard themselves have compounded these gender differences. Girls are less likely to feel confident about their abilities in mathematics, even when they perform as well as boys.

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