FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE SELECTION OF ADVANCED ACADEMIC MATHEMATICS COURSES BY GIRLS IN HIGH SCHOOL

OF STUDY This study emerged from a need for information on ways to encourage women talented in mathematics to pursue careers in this and related fields. It focuses on the specific problem of identifying the characteristics of girls, teachers, schools, and communities that are associated with the selection of advanced mathematics courses in high school. It assumes that this preparation can provide flexibility in future study and occupational pursuits, thereby creating a new source of potential workers in technological areas. The results in this study are based on returns from mathematics supervisors or departmental heads and senior girls from 63 New Jersey public high schools. This represents 38 percent of the high schools invited to participate. These high schools are representative of the population contacted in size and percentage of girls continuing full-time education. The school districts in which they are located are representative of all New Jersey public school districts in their ability and effort to support e,'Ilcation, and in their geographical location. The high schools were grouped according to their success in motivating girls to study advanced mathematics. While none of the differences in school means for the 20 variables used in the comparisons were statistically significant at .05 or less, the distributions of these variables showed that "high" success schools tended to be regional high schools, which means that they served several elementary 8chool districts, to use tracking (or grouping) within the mathematics curriculum for accommodating :individual differences, and to use modern