Girls are the majority at some of D.C.’s top high schools, which some see as an inequity

Article here. Excerpt:

'Benjamin Banneker Academic High School has an abundance of college-level classes and one of the highest graduation rates in the District. It’s also overwhelming female. Three out of four Banneker students last school year were girls.

Banneker is not the only high-performing District high school that serves mostly girls. Duke Ellington School of the Arts, which offers both arts and academic enrichment, was 67 percent female in 2014-2015, according to school data. And School Without Walls, where some students take classes at nearby George Washington University, was 60 percent female.

An academic gender gap — with women outperforming men — is increasingly defining education nationwide. Young women are more likely to graduate from high school and go on to college. Female students began to outnumber males on college campuses in 1979, and now account for about 57 percent of college enrollment, according to federal data. An annual abundance of female applicants has led many private colleges to offer affirmative action for male applicants.'