Academic Gender Gap

* How interesting that the Educational Testing Service says that girls’ overall academic performance is equal to boys’ (“Study Finds Few Signs of an Academic Gender Gap,” May 7). And what an insightful question Jackie DeFazio raises when she points out that while girls and boys are equally matched in most subject areas, boys score roughly 40 points higher on average on the SAT-I.

ETS claims that there is no statistical bias in the SAT-I, that it accurately indicates real gender differences. But even if you accept this notion (and I’m not sure I do!), Educational Testing Service’s own study indicates that the SAT-I is biased in its selection of topics to test.

The areas primarily tested are vocabulary, reasoning from reading, math concepts and math computation. According to your article, boys score higher than girls in three of these four areas. The only exception is mathematical computation, and the fact that calculators are now permitted on the SAT may be neutralizing the girls’ sole advantage.

The SAT-I may indicate students’ abilities in a certain limited range of skills. But these skills are not necessarily the most important in determining college performance. For example, writing is probably the most important skill to have in college, and it happens to be an area where girls scored higher than boys. But it’s not even tested on the SAT-I. Perhaps this helps explain why women earn higher college GPAs, on average, than men do, yet their average SAT-I scores are lower.

RON CORCILLO

Beverly Hills

* Your article is biased against boys. You quote only organizations promoting better education and testing for girls and women.

Women get college degrees at rates much higher than boys, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. This means that for each field with more men than women getting degrees, there is a bigger disparity the other way in another field.

Your article focuses on those few fields in which men still outnumber women. This is myopic. Equal opportunity would demand that we also focus on those fields in which women outnumber men and that we pay as much attention to these disparities.

TED WEVERKA

San Mateo, Calif.