High School Preparation for College Calculus: Is the Story the Same for Males and Females?

Abstract

Using data from the first national study on high school preparation for college calculus, the Factors Including College Success in Mathematics (FICSMath) project, this paper connects males' (n = 3,648) and females' (n = 2,033) instructional experiences from their high school precalculus or calculus course to their college calculus performance. A hierarchical linear model identifies several significant instructional experiences that predict college calculus performance. Our findings show that high school instructional practices affect college calculus performance similarly for males and females.