The educational experience of girls has been largely ignored in the current education debate in the United States. This absence does not mean that boys and girls have identical educational experiences in school. This report challenges the common assumption that girls and boys are treated equally in U.S. public schools by providing a synthesis of all available research on the subject of girls in school. The volume indicates that girls are not receiving the same quality, or even quantity, of education as boys. Divided into five parts, Part 1 of this report, an introduction, discusses the rationale for the study, points out the absence of topics related to females in the current educational debate, and offers an overview of the development of gender roles. Part 2 reviews data on the achievement and participation of females in public school programs from preschool through the senior year of high school, with attention given these topics: race, sex, socioeconomic status, and academic; teen pregnancy and motherhood; vocational education; and dropping out of school. Part 3 looks at sex and gender bias in testing. Part 4 focuses on the school curriculum from three perspectives: the Formal Curriculum, or the content of curricular materials; the Classroom As Curriculum, measuring the ways in which the materials are taught; and the Evaded Curriculum, the things that are not taught in the nation's schools. Part 5 contains 40 recommendations to improve education for both girls and boys. Two appendices and reference lists include: (1) 35 educational reform. reports, 22 educational reform reports, and the national educational goals; and (2) the condition of indicators on gender equity, and available indicators for monitoring gender equity in education. A list of contributors to the report also is included. (DB)