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The female advantage in college enrollment and completion has generated concern among university officials and sparked debate about gender-conscious college admissions. There are a number of explanations for this increasing gender imbalance on college campuses. This paper focuses on the role played by admissions policies that base decisions solely on applicants’ high school grades. Given that females earn higher grades than males, such policies can contribute to growing female shares in admissions. To exemplify this trend, I use publicly-available data from Texas to show that the Texas Top 10% plan, which guarantees public university admission to students who graduate in the top decile of their high school class, led to an increase in the female share of accepted students. The increase was particularly large among black students, where the female share of admitted students was already highest among the major racial/ethnic groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article uses Florida administrative data to evaluate the role that public high schools play in the growing female advantage in college enrollment. We first show evidence of gender sorting across public high schools that is beyond what one would observe if students were randomly assigned to their schools. Using regression and decomposition techniques, we then find that across-school gender sorting explains 12% and 16% of females’ higher rates of enrollment among Hispanic and Black students, respectively. This relatively large contribution of high schools to gender disparities in college enrollment among Black and Hispanic students has implications for educators at all levels. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article documents evidence of nonrandom gender sorting across K-12 schools in the United States. The sorting exists among coed schools and at all grade levels, and it is highest in the secondary school grades. We observe some gender sorting across school sectors and types: for instance, males are slightly underrepresented in private schools and charter schools and are substantially overrepresented in irregular public schools, a large share of which educates students with special needs and juvenile justice involvement. Gender sorting within sectors and types is also quite prevalent and appears to be highest within the private schools (where single-sex schools are more common) and irregular public schools. We find that gender sorting is higher in counties that have higher shares of enrollment in private and nonregular public schools. This sorting occurs even though parents have similar stated preferences for school attributes for their sons and daughters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a study which investigates race, poverty, and gender disparities in taking advanced courses using 2 statewide data cohorts for public high school students in Florida. The results of the study show higher rates of advanced course-taking among whites, females, and non-poor students, and especially high rates of advanced course-taking for Asian students. It cites that when the pre-high school characteristics of the students are controlled, it substantially reduces poverty gaps, Asian-white gaps, and female-male gaps. Moreover, black and Hispanic students go to high schools that improve their probability of advanced course taking relative to white students.