Gender gaps in the quality education measurement system (SIMCE) tests and in the university selection tests (PSU) outcomes in chilean school-age children: An eight-year follow-up study

The aim of the present study was to describe the gender gaps in the Quality Education Measurement System (SIMCE) tests and in the University Selection Tests (PSU) outcomes within the framework of an eight-year follow-up study. This is an observational, comparative, prospective and eight-year follow-up study. A total of 1,353 school-age children of the 2010 fifth elementary school grade (5ESG) (n = 682; males n = 379) and of the 2010 first grade of high school (1HSG) (n = 671; males n = 330), were randomly selected. They took the 2009 SIMCE when they were in 4ESG and 8ESG, respectively. Students' ages ranged from 9.9y to 18.2y (mean 10.8; SD = 0.6y) and from 12.7y to 17.6y (mean = 14.8; SD = 0.6y), in the 2010 5ESG and 1HSG, respectively. At the end of 2013, 2010 1HSG school-age children graduated from the 4HSG and 550 of them took the 2013 PSU tests, which is the baccalaureate examination with national coverage for admission to universities. In the same way, at the end of 2017, 2010 5ESG school-age children, graduated from the 4HSG and 403 of them took the 2017 PSU tests. Results showed that SIMCE outcomes were higher in males than females in both tests, but significantly differ by gender only in school-age children of the 1HSG both language (p= 0.0282) and mathematics (p < 0.0001). In the follow-up study conducted between 2010-2017, 2013 PSU outcomes were significantly higher in males than females, in both tests (p < 0.0001); however, 2017 PSU outcomes (mean ± SD) did not differ significantly by gender in both tests. Education is a crucial social determinant of human wellbeing and these results emphasize the need to identify those risk factors that affect this gap due to the consequences for the present and future life, especially for females. These adverse conditions could leave irreversible consequences for cognitive development and school dropout, affecting more severely females than males. The State of the World's Children 2016 points out that millions of girls never go to school, never finish their education, and never receive the quality of education to which they are entitled. They are less healthy than they could be, less trained, with less possibilities in their lives and less hope for the future. Therefore, educating a girl is educating a whole family and the education of females should be a priority for governments.