Remember all of those times when you were a kid and you would tell the boys you were smarter than them because you were a girl? Well, looks like you weren’t actually that wrong. According to The Washington Post, on a national test of technology and engineering literacy, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), girls outperformed boys. The results of the test that the federal government administered were made public Tuesday—And TBH, the results are pretty great for girls.
The Post reported that the test was “designed to measure students’ abilities in areas such as understanding technological principles, designing solutions and communicating and collaborating” and that the girls were especially strong in the last part. The computer-based exam included questions involving imaginative scenarios, such as creating a healthy living environment for “Iggy,” the virtual classroom iguana, or coming up with a safe bike lane design.
“Overall it looks like girls have the ability and critical thinking skills to succeed in the fields of technology and engineering, and that’s worth noting,” Peggy Carr, acting commissioner of the National Center for Education Statistics, told U.S. News & World Report.
But in addition to girls seriously kicking guys’ butts, there were some disturbing race and wealth gaps in the results. Poorer students scored more than 30 points lower in proficiency than their wealthier peers, according to U.S. News. The Post also reported that 18 percent of black students and 28 percent of Latino students scored in the proficient range, way below the average of 56 percent for their white and Asian classmates.
The test was created to test the abilities of over 21,500 eighth grade students by asking straightforward questions and more open-ended answer scenarios. Overall, a total of 43 percent of all students scored proficient—42 percent of boys on average, while 45 percent of girls scored the same way. *Mic Drop.* Girls run the world!