A midshipman assists middle school students during the Naval Academy's STEM program's 'girls-only' workshop, on March 1, 2014, in Annapolis, Md. Female students performed better than their male counterparts on a national technology and engineering test, the results revealed. (Jonathan Newton / The Washington Post via Getty Images) 
 
 In nearly every category, female students outperformed male students on a national technology and engineering test – the first of its kind administered under the purview of the National Assessment of Educational Progress. 
 
 Overall, female students outscored their male counterparts by 3 points. But on questions dealing with communication and collaboration, they outscored male students by 5 points, and on questions about information and communication technology, they outscored them by 6 points. 
 
 (The National Assessment of Educational Progress) 
 
 "We did not expect this pattern and the pattern does seem to be pretty clear from the data," said Peggy Carr, acting commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, a data arm of the Department of Education that evaluated the test results. "Overall it looks like girls have the ability and critical thinking skills to succeed in the fields of technology and engineering, and that's worth noting." 
 
 The difference in performance between female and male students was especially surprising, Carr said, because female students tend to perform equal to or worse than male students on math and science achievement exams. 
 
 The findings also are striking considering male students expressed far more interest in pursuing engineering and technology than females, according to the 2016 U.S. News/Raytheon STEM Index. 
 
 Notably, the gender difference was also present when the results were broken down by race. White female students scored 4 points higher than white male students, and black females scored 5 points higher than black males. Hispanic females also scored 2 points higher than their male counterparts, though that did not mark a statistically significant difference. Meanwhile, Asian females scored the same as Asian males. 
 
 (The National Assessment of Educational Progress) 
 
 The test was administered to 21,500 students in grade eight in 840 public and private schools from January through March of 2014. Officials originally wanted to administer the exam to students in grades four and 12 as well, but a lack of resources prevented them from doing so. The exam is scheduled to be given again to eighth-grade students in 2018. 
 
 Overall, 43 percent of students performed at or above the level of proficient on the test, which gauged students' ability to think through problems and use technology and engineering information to arrive at the right answer. 
 
 "We live in a world of rapid technological change, and our nation's continued prosperity rests on how we can use technology to innovate," said Terry Mazany, chairman of the National Assessment Governing Board, which oversees NAEP exams. "Until now, there has been no way to assess this skill." 
 
 Because 2014 marked the first time the technology and engineering exam was administered, there is no data available for drawing direct historical comparisons. But the stubborn achievement gaps that persist in math and reading between race and income level were largely mirrored in the test's results. 
 
 Overall, white and Asian students both scored 160 on average – much higher than the averages for black and Hispanic students, who scored 128 and 138, respectively. 
 
 (The National Assessment of Educational Progress) 
 
 Meanwhile, poor students – as measured by their eligibility for the National School Lunch Program – scored almost 30 points less than their wealthier peers, and students with disabilities scored about 40 points less than students without disabilities. 
 
 Researchers said score differences broken out by school location also were notable, as students at suburban schools fared the best on the test – scoring 154 points on average – while students in city schools performed the poorest, scoring 144 points on average. 
 
 (The National Assessment of Educational Progress) 
 
 "The scores clearly show that when students have opportunities to engage with technology and engineering, they become fluent in the skills that prepare them for living and working in the modern world," said Tonya Matthews, president and CEO of the Michigan Science Center. "But access to these opportunities from place to place is patchy. That's a call for communities to create opportunities where needed, from schools to science centers to after-school programming." 
 
 The test incorporated what experts call "scenario-based tasks," or realistic situations posed via computer in which students are asked to demonstrate their knowledge and skills to solve various problems. 
 
 In one such task, for example, students helped troubleshoot and fix the habitat for a classroom iguana named Iggy who was suffering from too little sleep. Students first learned about iguanas and their basic needs, then worked through the task to determine how best to improve Iggy's environment. 
 
 "This is a very different assessment and much of it is based upon scenario-based tasks," said William Bushaw, executive director of the National Assessment Governing Board. "Our hope is to showcase this type of assessment on a national scale to model the types of assessments we can use in the future." 
 
 Bushaw said the board will consider using scenario-based questions in other tests it administers in the future. 
 
 "This is the first new assessment in the last 10 years," Bushaw said. "And it's over a topic we think is particularly important in today's world. Up until now, there's been no ability for this nation to assess the result of students in the areas of engineering and technology literacy." ||||| The latest evidence that it’s time to discard old stereotypes about men and women: Girls outperformed their male classmates on the first-ever federal assessment of U.S. students’ tech skills. 
 
 According to results from the 2014 Technology Engineering Literacy Assessment, a test designed to track students’ “technology and engineering literacy,” 45% of eighth-grade girls are proficient in tech skills, compared to 42% of boys. 
 
 The assessment, which was conducted by the U.S. Department of Education’s National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), tested students across three content areas and three “practices.” Girls scored an average of six points better on information and communication technology, which tested familiarity with “software and systems used for accessing, creating, and communicating information, and for facilitating creating expression.” A sample information and communication technology task asked students to create a website to promote a teen recreational center. 
 
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 Girls also outperformed boys when it came to developing solutions and achieving goals—one example: troubleshooting a malfunctioning device—as well as communicating and collaborating, in which they were required to tackle situations like adjusting content based on what they knew about an audience. 
 
 Both genders scored about the same in understanding technological tools (e.g. selecting appropriate digital tools to support a specific purpose). 
 
 While girls fared slightly better than boys, the overall results of the test are nothing to celebrate: Less than half of the 21,500 eighth-graders who participated are considered technologically literate. The average score hovered around 150, while the highest possible score was 300. ||||| Girls outperformed boys on the first test of “technology and engineering literacy” on the so-called Nation’s Report Card released Tuesday. 
 
 While 45% of the girls scored proficient or better, 42% of boys did so. All were eighth-graders who took the test in 2014, the first effort by the National Assessment of Educational Progress to examine how students use technology to solve real-world problems. 
 
 The slight gender gap surprised... ||||| WASHINGTON — Despite the stereotype that boys do better in math and science, girls have made higher grades than boys throughout their school years for nearly a century, according to a new analysis published by the American Psychological Association. 
 
 “Although gender differences follow essentially stereotypical patterns on achievement tests in which boys typically score higher on math and science, females have the advantage on school grades regardless of the material,” said lead study author Daniel Voyer, PhD, of the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada. “School marks reflect learning in the larger social context of the classroom and require effort and persistence over long periods of time, whereas standardized tests assess basic or specialized academic abilities and aptitudes at one point in time without social influences.” 
 
 Based on research from 1914 through 2011 that spanned more than 30 countries, the study found the differences in grades between girls and boys were largest for language courses and smallest for math and science. The female advantage in school performance in math and science did not become apparent until junior or middle school, according to the study, published in the APA journal Psychological Bulletin®. The degree of gender difference in grades increased from elementary to middle school, but decreased between high school and college. 
 
 The researchers examined 369 samples from 308 studies, reflecting grades of 538,710 boys and 595,332 girls. Seventy percent of the samples consisted of students from the United States. Other countries or regions represented by more than one sample included Norway, Canada, Turkey, Germany, Taiwan, Malaysia, Israel, New Zealand, Australia, Sweden, Slovakia, United Kingdom, Africa and Finland. Countries represented by one sample included Belgium, Czech Republic, Estonia, Mexico, Hong Kong, India, Iran, Jordan, the Netherlands, Portugal, Saudi Arabia, Serbia and Slovenia. 
 
 All studies included an evaluation of gender differences in teacher-assigned grades or official grade point averages in elementary, junior/middle or high school, or undergraduate and graduate university. Studies that relied on self-report and those about special populations, such as high-risk or mentored students, were excluded. The studies also looked at variables that might affect the students’ grades, such as the country where students attended school, course material, students’ ages at the time the grades were obtained, the study date and racial composition of the samples. 
 
 The study reveals that recent claims of a “boy crisis,” with boys lagging behind girls in school achievement, are not accurate because girls’ grades have been consistently higher than boys’ across several decades with no significant changes in recent years, the authors wrote. 
 
 “The fact that females generally perform better than their male counterparts throughout what is essentially mandatory schooling in most countries seems to be a well-kept secret, considering how little attention it has received as a global phenomenon,” said co-author Susan Voyer, MASc, also of the University of New Brunswick. 
 
 As for why girls perform better in school than boys, the authors speculated that social and cultural factors could be among several possible explanations. Parents may assume boys are better at math and science so they might encourage girls to put more effort into their studies, which could lead to the slight advantage girls have in all courses, they wrote. Gender differences in learning styles is another possibility. Previous research has shown girls tend to study in order to understand the materials, whereas boys emphasize performance, which indicates a focus on the final grades. “Mastery of the subject matter generally produces better marks than performance emphasis, so this could account in part for males’ lower marks than females,” the authors wrote. 
 
 Article: “Gender Differences in Scholastic Achievement: A Meta-Analysis,” Daniel Voyer, PhD, and Susan D. Voyer, MASc, University of New Brunswick, Psychological Bulletin, online April 28, 2014. 
 
 Daniel Voyer can be contacted by email or by phone at 1-506-453-4974. 
 
 The American Psychological Association, in Washington, D.C., is the largest scientific and professional organization representing psychology in the United States. APA's membership includes nearly 130,000 researchers, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. Through its divisions in 54 subfields of psychology and affiliations with 60 state, territorial and Canadian provincial associations, APA works to advance the creation, communication and application of psychological knowledge to benefit society and improve people's lives. ||||| Computer science women (and some dudes) (Brett Ziegler for USN&WR) 
 
 Like shoes and smartphones, America is importing more and more of its future STEM workforce. 
 
 The 2016 U.S. News/Raytheon STEM Index recorded a slight rise in hiring, education and general interest in technology and engineering over last year, while math education and general interest in science declined. The biggest growth occurred at the graduate level, but despite years of investment in attracting more American students to STEM, that expansion was not homegrown. 
 
 While the number of graduates who earned masters' and doctorate degrees in STEM rose by 6 percent in 2015, the Index found, the number of science and engineering graduates holding U.S. passports and green cards fell from 2008 to 2014, according to survey data from the National Science Foundation. 
 
 SPECIAL REPORT: STEM Solutions ] 
 
 By contrast, the number of graduates on temporary student visas – many of whom take their skills home after graduating rather than remain in the U.S. – rose by 35 percent in the same period. 
 
 "The U.S. is in fact producing more STEM graduates, but they're not necessarily to the benefit of the U.S.," says Brian Kelly, editor and chief content officer of U.S. News & World Report. 
 
 Gaps between men and women, and between whites and minorities, also remained entrenched. As the number of white students who earned STEM degrees grew 15 percent in the last five years, the number of black students fell by roughly the same margin, the index found. 
 
 Women's interest in STEM also decreased slightly since last year. 
 
 "We continue to have a lot of work to do in terms of how we inspire and prepare students for these types of career opportunities," says Vince Bertram, president and CEO of Project Lead the Way, a nonprofit that develops STEM curricula. 
 
 For years, executives at software firms, manufacturers, engineering companies and defense contractors – even President Barack Obama – have lamented what they say is a lack of qualified STEM graduates. It's an outgrowth of excluding more than half the population, they contend: depriving low-income schools of robust STEM programs, and reinforcing – implicitly and overtly, through socialization and outright discrimination – the perception that server farms and manufacturing hubs, labs and wind tunnels are almost exclusively the domains of white and Asian men. 
 
 There were some strides in the past year, the Index determined: Hispanic students earned more STEM degrees at every level than last year, and both black and Hispanic students expressed greater interest in engineering and technology. 
 
 And while students' scores on Advanced Placement exams fell slightly, the results may have to do with simple math: More students are taking the tests. Notably, the number of students who scored a 3 or higher on the AP exam for computer science continued its rise from a nadir in 2010, reflecting a push for more students to study technology. 
 
 "This is definitely good news, but we have a long way to go before we change the landscape and really get the majority of our young people engaged in computer science coursework in high school," says Catherine Riegle-Crumb, associate professor of STEM education and sociology at the University of Texas—Austin. 
 
 The STEM Index gives weights to different subindices, with the highest weights going to the broadest measures. The results this year continue the trend since 2008, with the Index overall growing slightly from the previous year. 
 
 The biggest gains were at the graduate level, where students earning masters' and doctorate degrees in STEM rose by 6 percent. Falling scores on AP exams, by contrast, drove the index's largest decline for 2016. 
 
 U.S. News/Raytheon STEM Index 
 
 While women continue to fall behind their male counterparts in some parts of STEM, experts say this may be a matter of choice and not cause for alarm. 
 
 Women may lag behind men in areas like engineering, for example, but they far outstrip men in earning biology degrees, NSF data show. Women make up about 80 percent of the students enrolled at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine (medical fields are not traditionally categorized as STEM), and a survey analysis in 2009 found girls expressed far less interest than boys in math as early as adolescence. 
 
 "Women are choosing to do different things. Everyone doesn't want to be an electrical engineer or to do computer science, and that's not a failure or flaw," says psychologist Wendy Williams, a professor in Cornell's department of human development. 
 
 Other research efforts have reached different conclusions. A study in 2014 found women routinely suffer discrimination in math hiring. Male students in undergraduate biology classes at the University of Washington were far more likely to name fellow men the "best students," an analysis found earlier this year. And one research team even discovered that male professors in STEM are more likely to dismiss these findings of bias than either their female colleagues or men teaching in other fields. 
 
 Attributing gender disparities in STEM hiring to lack of interest risks repeating how women were seen with respect to sports and athletics in the 1950s and 1960s, says Bertram, of PLTW. 
 
 "If we had dismissed the issue with gender as 'interest,' think about the lost opportunities for women over the last 40 years," he says. "We have to break down these barriers in a way that gives students an opportunity rather than dismissing them as things girls don't want to do or underrepresented students don't want to do." 
 
 STEM Employment Index Index Jobs Salaries 
 
 The STEM Employment Index shows the change in the number of STEM jobs relative to all jobs in the U.S. The sub-index increased more than any other between 2000 and 2015 and is a large driver of the increase in the overall index. In the last few years though, the increase has slowed. This year, the employment index score increased by a mere half point. 
 
 In terms of the raw number of STEM jobs, STEM jobs increased much faster than overall employment: 28 percent since 2000 compared to 6 percent for all jobs. 
 
 Computer jobs once again hold the top seven positions for highest number of employees, with applications software engineers and computer support specialists topping the list. Jobs for computer systems analysts, systems software engineers, and computer and information systems managers are also on the rise. 
 
 "While the STEM Index shows that computer science is a top STEM career choice, the need for cyber talent has never been greater," said David Wajsgras, president of Raytheon Intelligence, Information and Services. "Protecting networks is a big concern for industry, government and the military, but as a country, we haven't educated and trained enough people to protect these environments. Public and private interests need to do more to cultivate an interest and support development efforts in these career paths – our national security depends on it." 
 
 Don't recognize some of the job titles? STEM positions are changing and evolving so rapidly, some positions – such as computer network architects – lack any data beyond a few years ago. Other positions have been combined or redistributed over the years to better reflect the industry. 
 
 When it comes to payday, just about every STEM occupation saw its bank account swell from 2000 to 2015. Petroleum engineers once again earned the most annually, with a yearly salary of about $149,590 by 2015. Math techs and conservation scientists saw their salaries fall. 
 
 Degrees Granted Index Index Degrees 
 
 Graduate students top the Degrees Granted Index, which shows the change in the number of STEM degrees relative to all college degrees awarded in the U.S. 
 
 For the number of degrees, graduate degrees increased 6 percent since last year with women increasing more than men. The number of STEM degrees awarded to Hispanic students, showed large increases at all education levels since last year. The number of black students earning STEM degrees slowed after strong growth through 2013. 
 
 The number of undergrads earning STEM bachelor's continued its climb from 2000. Gender gaps remain deeply entrenched: Women are earning more STEM degrees each year, but they're keeping pace rather than closing the gap with men. 
 
 White students overall top the list by a wide margin simply because they make up the largest racial category – there are far more white students in the U.S. than there are black, Hispanic, Asian or American Indian students. 
 
 Advanced Placement Index Index Tests 3 or Higher 
 
 The Advanced Placement Index shows the change in the proportion of STEM AP tests with a score of 3 or higher – generally qualifying for college credit at many universities – and the proportion of AP tests in STEM fields compared to all tests. Overall the AP Index experienced a slight decline from nearly 94 index score in 2014 to 91.3 in 2015. 
 
 The percentage of students early a score of 3 or higher in Calculus AB and BC fell off slightly, while Physics C-Mechanics saw growth among both men and women. 
 
 Nonetheless, gender disparities remain apparent when looking at the percentage of students who scored a 3 or higher on STEM Advanced Placement exams. There was a higher percentage of male students who scored a 3 or higher than females in all STEM subjects. 
 
 High School Interest Index Index By Race By Gender 
 
 Math had a rough year. Interest in every STEM subject except math made gains in the latest index measuring high school interest. Black and Hispanic students expressed greater interest in engineering. Asian students did the same in engineering, technology and math. 
 
 Across the board, men expressed more interest than women in STEM subjects, with dramatic differences in engineering. 
 
 ACT Index Index Scores 
 
 The ACT Index shows the change in students' average math and science scores on the ACT, one of the most widely taken standardized college admission tests. 
 
 Asian students led the index, recording gains in both math and science. In terms of raw scores, black students remained at the bottom of the results. 
 
 SAT Index Index Scores 
 
 The SAT Index shows the change in students' math scores on the other most widely taken standardized college admissions test. 
 
 The SAT is graded on a curve, in part to allow test administrators to compare students' scores from year to year. As a result, the scores show little overall change from year to year; even among Asian students, who saw the highest increase. 
 
 A gap persisted between the genders, with men of all demographics scoring about 30 points higher on the math section than women every year. 
 
 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) Index Index Scores 
 
 The NAEP Index shows the change in students' math scores on the NAEP exam, a nationwide test administered every two years to students in fourth and eighth grades. Students' raw scores showed wide gaps persisting among racial groups, with Asian students leading the graph, followed by white students. Black and Hispanic students earned comparatively lower scores. Scores for almost all demographics fell across the board, with the exception of American Indian and multiethnic students. 
 
 Unlike the college admissions exams, however, male and female scores in both fourth and eighth grades were closely aligned . 
 
 Trends in International Math & Science Studies (TIMSS) Index Index Scores 
 
 The TIMSS Index relies on data from the TIMSS exam, a test administered around the globe every four years to students in fourth and eighth grades. The index compares the U.S. to other countries by taking the average U.S. score and dividing it by the average TIMSS score for all countries in the data set. 
 
 The differences in score changes were dramatic among certain countries. In Ghana and Saudi Arabia, for example, students saw big gains in their scores, while in Malaysia, Indonesia and Jordan, scores fell an accelerating pace from 2010 on. 
 
 The U.S. finished toward the middle of the pack for math and toward the top for science, alongside countries like Italy, Slovenia, Australia, Hungary, England and Russia. 
 
 Singapore, China, Hong Kong, South Korea and Japan, meanwhile, recorded the top scores. 
 
 Data for the TIMSS Index includes three years: 2003, 2007 and 2011. The next assessment stage is ongoing and will be made available later this year. We've omitted data from countries without a full data set, but you can view all the countries here. 
 
 Program for International Student Assessments (PISA) Index Index Scores 
 
 The PISA Index shows the change in students' math and science scores on the PISA exam, a math and science test administered to 15-year-olds in 34 countries by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The test is administered every three years, the 2015 PISA data has been carried over from 2014. 
 
 Mexico, Turkey and Portugal experienced rapid changes in their students' science scores, which outpaced those of most other nations from 2003 through 2012. Scandinavian countries such as Finland and Sweden, meanwhile, saw their scores fall. 
 
 Mexico, Chile, Turkey, Greece and Israel scored at the bottom of the list, while Finland, South Korea, Japan and Estonia rounded out the top, with the U.S. in the lower percentile among OECD countries. 
 
 Methodology: U.S. News & World Report's Director of Data Research, Bob Morse, and Data Analyst Matt Mason explain the methodology behind the 2016 U.S. News/Raytheon STEM Index here. 
 
 Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics' Occupational Employment Statistics, National Center for Education Statistics, College Board, National Research Center for Colleges & University Admissions, ACT, International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement, Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. 
 
 
 
 Alan Neuhauser, Staff Writer Alan Neuhauser covers law enforcement and criminal justice for U.S. News & World Report. He als... Read moreAlan Neuhauser covers law enforcement and criminal justice for U.S. News & World Report. He also contributes to STEM and Healthcare of Tomorrow, and previously reported on energy and the environment. You can follow him on Twitter or reach him at aneuhauser@usnews.com. 
 

– For the first time, a federal test measured tech skills for America's students—and the girls handily beat the boys in nearly every category, per US News & World Report. On the National Assessment of Educational Progress engineering and technology exam, given in 2014 to 21,500 eighth-graders from 840 schools, 45% of female students were proficient in tech skills, compared to 42% of male students, Fortune reports. But they did even better on questions that involved communication and collaboration (involving troubleshooting and coming up with solutions; girls earned a 5-point lead here) and communication technology (a 6-point lead in an area that measured familiarity with software and systems). "We did not expect this pattern, and the pattern does seem to be pretty clear from the data," says Peggy Carr, acting commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics. Carr says the gap between females and males was surprising, since boys tend to do better on math and science achievement tests, as well as seem more into engineering and tech jobs, per this year's US News/Raytheon STEM Index. Except for Asians, the gender difference existed even parsed by race: White females surpassed white males by 4 points, black females enjoyed a 5-point lead, and Hispanic females came in 2 points better than males. The reason for the interactive test, as noted by the Wall Street Journal: to gauge how US students will do when they're sent out into today's technologically advanced world. One not-so-great result: Just 43% of the students tested as technologically literate. The exam is set to land on eighth-graders' desks again in 2018. (Intel dropped its sponsorship of a nationwide STEM contest in high schools.)