Females Taking More Math Courses Than Males : 1998

April 23, 1998

Note to Editors: In conjunction with the designation of April as Mathematics Education Month and the celebration of Mathematics Awareness Week April 26-May 2, ACT Inc. is releasing this second compilation of trends in U.S. students' enrollment in high-school mathematics courses. The data are from systematic 10-percent samples of ACT-tested graduates from 1987 and 1997 who reported that they had taken, were taking or planned, before graduating, to take geometry, algebra II, trigonometry or calculus. See also the April 16 release on overall trends in mathematics enrollments.

IOWA CITY, Iowa—According to figures released today by ACT Inc., over the last decade U.S. college-bound females have increased their enrollment in mathematics courses significantly more than males have, and more females than males now take geometry and second-year algebra in high school.

In addition, the proportions of females taking trigonometry and calculus have increased by 7 and 9 percent respectively since 1987, while the percentage of males taking trigonometry has remained steady and the percentage enrolling in calculus has increased only 6 percent.

Between 1987 and 1997, female enrollment also increased by 8 percent in geometry and by 15 percent in algebra II. At the same time, male enrollment in those courses increased by 5 and 10 percent.

"Higher-level math courses are directly related to higher average ACT scores and to greater success in college," said Wes Habley, director of the ACT Center for the Enhancement of Educational Practices. "Over these same ten years of increased participation in math, females have raised their average score on the ACT mathematics test from 19.2 to 20.1 and their average composite ACT score from 20.2 to 20.9. Males, on the other hand, have seen their average ACT math score increase from 21 to 21.3, but their average composite score has decreased from 21.4 to 21.2."

The score scale for the ACT Assessment, the college-entrance exam taken by about 60 percent of the nation's entering freshmen, is 1-36.

$Bar Graph of Percentages of Male & Female College-Bound Students Taking Selected High-School Mathematics Courses, 1987 & 1997. The same data appears below in table format$

Percentages of Male & Female College-Bound Students Taking
Selected High-School Mathematics Courses, 1987 & 1997

(Tabular Format)

Course	M/F	% 1987	% 1997	% Increase
Geometry	M	87	92	5
Geometry	F	84	93	8
Algebra II	M	78	88	10
Algebra II	F	74	89	15
Trigonometry	M	49	49	0
Trigonometry	F	39	46	7
Calculus	M	20	26	6
Calculus	F	12	21	9