The question of whether there are gender differences in cognitive abilities remains a controversial issue amongst parents, educators and policy-makers. This chapter examines recent data from large-scale, nationally representative samples of educational achievement in the domains of verbal (reading, writing, grammar) and quantitative reasoning (mathematics and science). Gender differences are small for some abilities and alarmingly large for others. Neither is there any evidence for a closing of the gender gap as had been claimed by some authors. The educational implications of gender gaps are discussed, including an emphasis on foundational writing skills and the mechanics of grammar.