Koho znevýhodňuje škola: chlapce, nebo dívky? Rozdíly v dovednostech, školních výsledcích a vzdělanostních aspiracích dívek a chlapců devátých tříd...
Who is shortchanged in school: boys or girls? Gender gaps in skills, grading and educational aspirations among pupils of 9th grade...

Summary/Abstract: This paper addresses one of the key issues of contemporary sociology of education, namely gender gaps in academic performance and their consequences for school continuation decisions. We begin with a critical review of feminist production on this issue and proceed by the analysis of data from the PISA 2003 student assessment, encompassing the academic performance and family background of about 5800 9th grade pupils. Similar to most recent research carried out in other countries, and in contrast to most of the findings presented in feminist studies, we find that girls outperform boys in grades in Czech language and math, even after controlling for measured ability in reading and math, family background and other student attributes. Girls are also substantially more likely than boys to apply to secondary grammar schools, as well as aspire to a college education, even after controlling for measured ability. Based on relevant literature, we put forward a number of theoretical perspectives that shed light on the possible causes of these empirical findings.

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