When you think of someone who is an engineer, do you imagine a man or a woman wearing a hardhat? How about when you imagine a teacher standing in front of a class of schoolchildren? If you answer "a man" to the first question, and "a woman" to the second, there's probably a reason. And the reason is simply that more men than…

During the 2014 White House Science Fair, President Barack Obama used a sports metaphor to explain why we must address the shortage of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), particularly in the engineering and computing fields: "Half our team, we're not even putting on the field. We've got to change those…

During the 2014 White House Science Fair, President Barack Obama used a sports metaphor to explain why we must address the shortage of women in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), particularly in the engineering and computing fields: "Half our team, we're not even putting on the field. We've got to change those…

ACT has been a leader in measuring college and career readiness trends since 1959. Each August, ACT releases The Condition of College & Career Readiness (www.act.org/newsroom/data/2015), an annual report on the progress of the ACT-tested graduating class relative to college readiness. Nationally, a record 59% of the 2015 graduating class took…

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of adolescent career plans reported in PISA 2006. Its main focus is on the differences in the status and area of employment expected by girls and boys in high school. In almost all countries, girls lead boys in their interest in non-manual, high status professional occupations. This can be seen as a…