Measuring gender in elementary school-aged children in the United States: Promising practices and barriers to moving beyond the binary.

Abstract

How gender identity is assessed directly shapes how students are supported in elementary schools in the United States. Despite the existence of gender diversity, calls for more inclusive science, and recommendations from national research associations and societies to incorporate and emphasize the voices of individuals with diverse gender identities, most studies exploring gender disparities in education have relied heavily on the assumption of a gender binary. As a result, the omission of diverse gender identities from educational research in the elementary years is troubling. To address this area of need, the current article summarizes the opportunities for and constraints surrounding inclusive evaluation of gender identity in the elementary school years. We begin with a brief review of common methods used to assess gender identities for children in elementary school, including the strengths and limitations of each. We next contextualize these measures by outlining the current state-level barriers to including diverse gender identities in assessments of gender. In highlighting the best available practices and the structural systems of oppression realized through state-level policies that perpetuate an inability to represent student voices across the gender spectrum, we conclude with a call to action to inspire the evolution of best practices in the service of all students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved).