Math gender gaps shift from favoring girls in the fall of kindergarten to (mostly) favoring boys in the spring of kindergarten
Gender gaps in kindergarten from fall to spring
Source: Kuhfeld, M., & Burchinal, M. (2025). Gender gaps in the early grades: Questioning the narrative that schools are poorly suited to young boys (EdWorkingPaper No. 25-1297).
Note: Scores are from MAP Growth test data. The orange dots show gender gaps in fall of kindergarten, while the blue dots show them in the spring. Gaps are calculated as boys' scores minus girls' scores and reported in standard deviations. COVID-affected years 2019-20 and 2020-21 are without test results.