Daniella Richards initially had no interest in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). Then she enrolled in a robotics class in the 7th grade, found joy in it and ultimately joined the robotics team at Swope Middle School.

By her 8th grade year, she won an Inspirations Award from the Nevada affiliate of the National Center for Women in Informational Technology — a recognition meant to celebrate middle school girls for their accomplishments and passion for STEM.

Now a junior at Reno High School, she continues her interest in engineering and robotics. In her engineering class of 30, she’s one of seven girls. In the grade below her, there’s only one girl in a class of 30.

These numbers of girls in STEM at her school reflect a larger trend taking place across the nation and in Nevada schools: There is a gender gap in STEM — and girls lost much more ground than boys since before the pandemic.

In new data from the Stanford Education Data Archive (SEDA) and the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), Nevada experienced one of the largest average drop-offs in girls’ math scores compared with boys’ between 2019 and 2024, the equivalent of girls falling 43 percent of a grade level more than boys. 

Experts think a variety of reasons may be behind the trend, including girls’ declining mental health during the pandemic, negative stereotypes and peer pressure.

A sharp decline

In the 2010s, schools across the nation invested heavily into their STEM programs with the goal of increasing girls' engagement and performance. By the 2019 school year, girls had fully caught up and in some districts even surpassed boys’ math scores.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, any ground gained had been lost. While boys and girls’ STEM scores dropped during the pandemic, boys’ scores have recovered faster than girls’, widening a gender gap.

In the 10 largest school districts in the nationwide analysis — Clark County School District (CCSD) is the fifth largest — girls scored higher in math prior to the pandemic, but boys scored higher on average in 2023-2024.

In Clark County, girls lost 81 percent of a grade level, while boys lost 35 percent of a grade level.

Washoe County School District (WCSD) saw girls lose 78 percent of a grade level, while boys lost 42 percent of a grade level. 

Not all teachers are seeing such a split. 

Jeremy Christensen, who teaches Advanced Placement calculus and honors geometry at Arbor View High School in Las Vegas, said both genders are equally represented in his classroom, and there’s an even split on test scores.

“We have a very high pass rate across the board at Arbor View for our AP exam,” Christensen said. “There are times where I feel like the girls are actually performing better. I think that they follow through with their work a little bit better, turning everything in and attention to detail.”

Even though math scores have fallen since the pandemic began, according to studies by SEDA and NCES, reading scores for girls haven’t dropped at all and, in some of the intersections between reading and STEM, girls are excelling.

“On the AP chemistry exam, there’s a multiple choice section and a free response section,” Michelle DeMaio, a chemistry teacher at Arbor View said. “I’ve noticed that the girls often give much more lengthier, thought-out and detailed responses than the boys.”

Christensen said he thinks the decline of girls in STEM has less to do with lack of interest or teaching methods, but is more about peer influence.

“It’s the friend group,” Christensen said. “My son’s friends didn't seem to think that school was too important, for a time they all weren’t into it. For my daughter and her group, they would almost push each other to be better in school.”

Researchers themselves can’t exactly pinpoint what caused this decline.

Megan Kuhfeld, a psychologist with the Northwest Evaluation Association, said some of the reasons for the decline in girls' scores post pandemic could include:

• Girls reporting feeling more depressed, stressed or anxious during the pandemic.
• Girls facing negative stereotypes in STEM.
• Boys possibly getting more attention from teachers during the last few years because of a rise in behavioral problems.

“We of course don’t have hard evidence to support any of these theories, but this is what we’ve seen in research as potential causes,” Kuhfeld told reporters this week during a presentation hosted by the Associated Press about the data. “Of course, it’s probably multifaceted and lots of different things can be contributing to these gaps.”

From a student perspective, there are definitely still negative stereotypes surrounding girls in STEM.

Richards has competed in multiple robotics competitions and she said she does sometimes get weird looks from boys at these competitions, but she is inspired as she sees more and more all-female teams compete.

Encouraging girls’ participation

Marc Rogers, a chemistry teacher at Cimarron-Memorial High School, is also one of the founders of Cimarron’s award-winning robotics team, The High Rollers.

Rogers says he has seen the club’s female membership fluctuate, reaching about 50 percent in the 2015-2017 school years. He said one thing that helps the team retain female members is having female mentors.

“It’s a huge confidence booster for girls,” Rogers said. “They can see themselves in our female mentors and feel a lot more confident and comfortable in the club.”

To boost female engagement, mentors organized a “Girls Night in STEM.”

“We have a shop and so we closed it early and opened it only to females,” Rogers said. “No males were in the shop so females were running equipment, and learning about the robots with no one else in the room. It really helps build their confidence in this.”

There’s larger efforts being made to increase girls' interest in STEM as well.

WCSD has partnered with UNR to bring the university’s Women in STEM program directly into Washoe County high schools. 

The program is led by Melanie Duckworth, the executive director of UNR’s Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, and director of Women in STEM, and is designed to connect female students with role models, hands-on experiences and academic pathways in STEM fields. The program is also open to male students.

The Women in STEM program is promoted across the district with flyers and email campaigns. Families and teachers have noted enthusiastic participation from young women eager to explore science and engineering fields, according to the district.

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The Associated Press contributed to this story