WNG – Laura Edghill 
The results of a recent assessment of eighth graders’ engineering and technology knowledge prompted headlines boasting that girls “beat,” “outshine,” “best,” and “trump” boys in math and science. But further analysis shows the gender gap in teens’ STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) performance is more complicated than the old playground taunt that “girls rule, boys drool.” By congressional mandate, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is administered every year to select students in the fourth, eighth, and 12th grades. Last year’s test, the results of which were released this spring, showed that 15,000 eighth grade students scored an average of 152 out of 300 possible points for “technology and engineering literacy.” But girls scored an average of 155, five points higher than boys. (more)