Gender and Racial/Ethnic Differences in Self-Reported Levels of Engagement in High School Math and Science Courses

While gender and racial/ethnic performance gaps in math and science have been well documented, we know little about how students feel while they are in these courses. Using a sample of 793 high school students who participated in the Experience Sampling Method of the Study of Youth and Social Development, this study examines the gender and racial/ethnic differences in self-reported levels of challenge, a measure of student engagement, while students are in math and science courses. Results from multivariate regression analyses indicate that boys report similar levels of engagement while in math and science classes, but girls do not. While Black female students report lower levels of challenge in math classes, Latina girls report lower levels of challenge while in science class in comparison to other racial/ethnic groups.