The Gender Gap: How Utilization of a School Counseling Center Affects Academic Performance

Abstract

In researching the current academic gender gap, the project investigated academic performance, gender, and utilization of the counseling center to determine whether there was a relationship. The variables that were appraised are as follows: frequency use of the counseling center, type of counseling center use, stress, organizational skills, homework completion, retention, and grade point average. The data was collected using a survey method at a rural middle/high school. Some of the results mirrored prior research and some countered it. The results regarding stress indicated that males experienced more stress related to school than females. With regards to the organization and homework, they indicated that females ranked themselves with a higher completion rate and better organizational skills. The discussion focused on the long term affect of the gender gap, its implications, the benefits of eliminating it, and the significance of the counseling center in that process.