  This study employs an ex-post facto research design to explore the
fluctuations of gender difference in academic achievement among graduating
students of mathematics education. Graduation statistics for a total of 1106
graduating students of mathematics education (923 males and 183 females) from a
University in North Central Nigeria were used to design a discrete-time Markov
chain model for the movement of the difference (d) in graduating proficiency
from one range of values (states) to the other. Additional goodness of fit test
($\chi$ 2 = 1.731, p = 0.99924) and t-test (t = 0.4055, p = 0.6852) unveiled
that d has stayed much the same over the 12 graduation cycles used in the
study, and that whatever factors determine the difference in academic
achievement between male and female graduating students of mathematics
education on a graduation cycle basis have remained much the same over the
years. Further analysis of the model predicted the closure of the observed
gender gap in the next 15 graduation cycles (p 15). The results of this study
has specifically highlighted the fact that female graduates of mathematics
education are as proficient as their male counterparts in driving value added
services in and beyond the education sub-sector of the Nigerian economy. Based
on the findings of this study, it was recommended that future work may consider
an in-depth investigation of the sensitivity of parameters that may have
influenced specific probabilities given in the model.
