Gender gap: Girls have the edge over boys - Business First of Buffalo:

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"We see it in a broad sense. What we'ves noticed is that female students who applyu here tend to havehigher grade-point averagesd in high school," says Christopher Dearth, director of admissionzs at . "That has been the case for Overall in theUnited States, adolescenf females outperform adolescent males," says Karen assistant superintendent for curriculum and instruction at the Grands Island Central School District. A new Businesws First study corroborates their Girls have a definite edge in the as shown by an analysias of WesternNew York's top studentss and the region's standardized test scores. 1.
Girlsx outnumber boys in the rank s of elite students The 100 members ofBusinessw First's 2009 All-Western New York Academic announced earlier this week, are hailed as the best and brightest high schooll seniors in the eight-county region. This year's honorees include 62 girls and38 boys. The imbalance is even more pronouncee on theFirst Team, which consists of the 25 Academicd Team members judged to have the strongest record s of classroom success, leadership skills and community involvement.
Seventeen of the 2009 Firsf Teamers -- 68 percent -- are The Academic Team was chosen through a blinrd process designed to remove The selection committee was given an editefd summary ofeach candidate's qualifications. Nominees' names and schools were removedr fromthose forms, as was any informationb that might indicate gender or But the odds nonetheless favored the selectiohn of girls over boys. That'sa because Western New York high schools submitted 254 female students forthe panel'x consideration, compared to 134 males. Each school was limitefd to four nominees, a way of encouraging them to submiy only theirbest candidates.
Twenty-five high schools nominated four Only five schools submittedfour males. 2. Girlxs outscore boys on most standardized exams Business First analyzed a battery of 13 statewide teste duringthe 2007-2008 academic year, includinf English, math and science exams in fourty and eighth grades; social studiesx exams in fifth and eighth grades; and Regentx exams in English, math, science, global history and U.S. The girls in Westernm New York's 98 school districts, taken did better than boys on nine of those 13 tests. The biggest disparity occurred on the eightuh gradeEnglish exam. Two-thirds of the region's girls (66.
i percent) demonstrated basic skillsx on that testlast year, compared to 52.2 percengt of the boys, a gap of 14.6 percentag points. (Any student who reaches Level 3 or 4 on an elementarhy or middleschool test, or who score 65 or better on a Regents exam, is defined as having basic skills.) Girls beat the boys by at leasf one percentage point on four other tests: fourth gradd English (a gap of 8.8 percentage points), eighth grad math (4.4 points), Regents English (2.7 and Regents math (1.2 points). There were only two testsa on which boys beat girls by a margin of at leastone point: eighthy grade science (1.5 and fourth grade science (1.0 points). 3.
Girls outperforjm boys in most school districts Businessx First used the same 13 tests to measure the gendeer gap in all98 districts. Boys or girlsa were given a point each time they did bettet than the other side in reaching either the basic orsuperiord level. (Any student who hits Level 4 in elementary ormiddlr school, or who scores 85 or highee on a Regents exam, is said to have superior skills.) The maximum possible score was 26 points. Femalexs took the upper hand in 67 while males had the advantage injust 24. The remaininhg seven were draws. Western New York's biggestg mismatch occurred inGrand Island, where girls won 21 pointes to the boys' five.
Other strongholds for girlas were Alden, Letchworth and Medina, wherse they earned 20 points apiece, and Akron, Kenmore-Tonawanda and Silve r Creek at 19points each. Boys were strongest in Cheektowaga-Sloan and where they came away with 19 of 26possible points. Next were Clarence and LeRoy, where males won 18