Gender Differences in Mathematical Performance and the School Context : Evidence from Russia

Gender differences in mathematical performance have been long debated in psychology, economics, and sociology. We contribute to this literature by analyzing a large data set of high school graduates who in 2011 took a standardized mathematical test in Russia (n = 738,456). We find no substantial difference in mean test scores of boys and girls. However, boys have a greater variance of scores and are more numerous at the top of the distribution. We apply quantile egression to model the association between school characteristics and gender differences in test scores throughout the distribution. Male advantage in test scores, particularly at the top of the distribution, is concentrated in cities and in schools with the advanced curriculum. In ordinary high schools, especially in the countryside, gender differences in all parts of the distribution are very small. A separate analysis at the regional level confirms that male advantage in mean test scores is higher in more urbanized regions