WOMEN’S advocacy groups have waged an intense media campaign to promote the idea that “schools shortchange girls.” Their goal has been to convince the public that women are “victims” of an unfair educational system and that they deserve special treatment, extra funding, and heightened policy attention. Their sophisticated public-relations campaign has succeeded. The idea that girls are shortchanged by schools has become the common wisdom—what people take for granted, without a thought concerning whether or not it is true.