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SEO Ed Digest
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Vol. 3, Issue 7
July 2006
Bringing urban P-16 education resources to policymakers, parents, advocates, and district and school staff in the District of Columbia
Research on DC Schools
National Lessons Learned
New Ideas
The State Education Office does not endorse the views expressed in the resources and reports contained in the SEO Ed Digest.
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This issue of the SEO Ed Digest covers recent and background research on the topic of “the boy crisis.” Currently, there is a debate as to whether boys are achieving less than girls. In the 1990s, time and resources were spent to raise the achievement of girls, who at that point, were underperforming their male classmates. However, in recent years, it seems as though the roles have switched and girls are now outperforming boys in school. This issue examines the debate and how boys are doing in K-12 and higher education.
Articles
Reports
Books
Articles
The New Republic: Boys and Books. Boy Trouble. (January 23, 2006)
Reports
This study addresses the question of whether boys or girls have been doing better in terms of their well-being in the United States by applying a recently developed index of child and youth well-being. Specifically, sex-specific trends in 28 national-level time series social indicators in seven quality-of-life domains – material well-being, social relationships, health safety/behavioral concerns, productive activity, place in community, and emotional/spiritual well-being – are reviewed. These indicators are indexed by percentage change from a base year, 1985. Subsequent annual observations through the year 2001 are calculated as a percentage of the base year values. The results are mixed – they show that for both boys and girls, some of the seven domains of well-being have improved since 1985, while others have deteriorated. Since 1995, overall well-being indices for boys and girls have shown significant improvement and 2001 levels were well above the 1985 baseline figures. A direct comparison of male and female well-being reveals that the absolute level of gender differences in the summary well-being index decreased in the late 1980s, increased through the mid-1990s, peaked in 1997, and declined thereafter. In all three age groups of students taking the NAEP tests, females hold a slight advantage over males in reading. In math, data for 2001 show that male and female rates have essentially converged for all three age groups. The authors found that when looking at the percentage of 18- to 24-year olds who have received a high school diploma, females have consistently shown a higher rate of attainment than males. For college degree attainment, females showed a slightly higher rate in the period from 1985 to 1991, were the same as males from 1991 to 1995, and increased in graduation rates after 1995. Even with these differences, the author concludes that gender differences in well-being, when they do exist, are very slight and that overall, both boys and girls in the United States currently enjoy a higher quality of life than they did in 1985.
 
In 1996, Ofsted, the inspectorate for children and learners in England, published a report entitled The Gender Divide which highlighted the gap between the performance of British boys and girls. Since then the attainment of boys has continued to lag behind girls in national tests at all ages. This report follows up some of the issues raised in the previous report and identifies approaches used to raise boys’ attainment. The main finding of this report is that when boys enter secondary school they are already well behind girls in English, although they achieve marginally better that girls in mathematics. Except in a small number of schools, the gap does not close during the secondary years. Boys continue to achieve less well than girls in Key Stage 3 tests and General Certificate of Secondary Education Examinations. The authors argue that improving the achievement of boys is a complex matter in which interlinked factors play important parts. In order to raise achievement, the following must take place: a positive learning ethos, good teaching and classroom management, close monitoring of all individuals and effective support for learning. These factors are significant in all schools, whether mixed or single-sex, maintained or independent, and are relevant to girls as well as boys.
On March 21, 2000 the Minister for Education, Training and Youth Affairs requested the Employment, Education and Workplace Relations Committee to inquire into and report on the social, cultural and educational factors affecting the education of boys in Australian schools and the strategies which schools have adopted to help address these factors. This report identifies these factors affecting the education of boys and offers recommendations in the following areas: labor market, social and policy change; curriculum and pedagogy; literacy and numeracy; and schools, teachers and role models.
This report focuses on current practices in teaching educationally disadvantaged/underachieving boys and their literacy development in Australia. The research study involved a comprehensive literature review to: (a) establish what we know about literacy development of boys; and (b) identify gaps in the research. The project's activities involved examining and documenting strategies which have proven to be effective in improving the literacy outcomes of boys and piloting the strategies in a small number of primary schools.
This booklet summarizes evidence of boys’ educational underachievement and outlines how the Australian Government is addressing boys’ education. It also provides statistics on how boys are doing in Australia compared to girls with their literacy scores, grade 12 scores, retention rates, higher education enrollment, and behavioral and social outcomes.
This webpage provides statistics on how boys are doing compared to girls. It breaks down statistics by the following categories: K-12 education; special education; higher education; and other indicators. It provides information on how many girls versus boys are enrolled in schools, expelled from schools, diagnosed with a disability, and enrolled in college at different grade levels.
In light of the growing body of research on boys, and the increasing concerns of educators, parents, and child development experts, the Educational Equity Center at the Academy for Educational Development last November brought together some of the top experts in the field for a two-day meeting. The result of that meeting is a report summarizing some of the latest, and most relevant, research being done on how boys are faring in the U.S. educational system. “Raising and Educating Healthy Boys: A Report on the Growing Crisis in Boys’ Education” states that boys: represent 70% of the students with learning disabilities, and 80% of those with social / emotional disturbances; represent 70% of school suspensions, particularly minority males in urban settings; and commit 85% of school violence and comprise the majority of the victims of that violence. Preschool and adolescence are the two stages in which boys face the greatest challenges. Those are also the ideal times to reach out to boys.
The Raising Boys’ Achievement Project was a four-year project (2000-2004), which focused on issues associated with the apparent differential academic achievement of boys and girls in schools in England. This report highlights some of the dilemmas, which are implicit within the debate, explores different interpretations and perspectives about boys’ underachievement, and challenges some common misconceptions. The authors also identify strategies which appear to have the potential to make a difference to boys’ (and girls’) learning, motivation and engagement with their schooling, and consequently to raise levels of academic achievement. In their research, the authors found that achievement levels have been rising through time. In some schools, this has widened the gender gap, as girls’ performances have taken off at a more dramatic level than those of boys. However, overall, evidence suggests that the gap has stabilized. Further, many boys continue to achieve extremely well at school and the core of the issue in many schools revolves around a minority of pupils, rather than a majority. Nevertheless, a gender gap does exist in the results. This study examined elements of the climate of middle-grades schools that are associated with schools' effectiveness in terms of the engagement and achievement of their students, with special emphasis on gender equity. Drawn from the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988, data on 9,020 eighth graders from 377 middle-grades schools were used to examine student-level variables, such as achievement, engagement, socioeconomic status (SES), and academic background; and school-level variables, such as school composition and structure, teaching and learning climate, and normative climate. Observed gender differences in outcomes were small to moderate, favoring girls as well as boys. Climate effects are stronger for effectiveness than for equity. Teaching and learning climate effects, although modest, favor a flexible curriculum organization and authentic instruction. More substantial effects accrue from elements of normative climate, particularly academic orientation, safety, and order. Composition and structure effects are strong, particularly on reading achievement. Not all climate elements that positively influence effectiveness also induce gender equity. Implications for policy and school reform are discussed.
In this paper, Dr. Judith Kleinfeld examines the charges made in a highly publicized report, How Schools Shortchange Girls, published by the American Association of University Women (1992). She shows how the findings in this report are based on a selective review of the research and how findings contrary to the report's message were suppressed. To find out what is actually going on, how boys and girls do fare in the schools, she reviews the best available information on a wide variety of strong measures: school grades, class rank, honors and prizes in academic competitions, scores on standardized achievement tests, college entrance and graduation rates, and attainment of professional and doctoral degrees. Dr. Kleinfeld examines the argument that schools shortchange girls and the view that girls are silenced in the classroom and suffer a dramatic loss of self-confidence at adolescence and charges that this argument is based on weak measures. Research on gender differences in class participation, school climate, and self confidence provides a welter of conflicting findings, sometimes favoring girls, sometimes favoring boys, and sometimes showing no gender differences at all.
Using data compiled from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, this report finds that over the past three decades, boys' test scores are mostly up, more boys are going to college and more are getting bachelor's degrees. Although low-income boys, like low-income girls, are lagging behind middle-class students, boys are scoring significant gains in elementary and middle school and are much better prepared for college. The author found that reading achievement by 9-year-old boys increased 15 points on a 500-point scale between 1971 and 2004, and girls that age increased seven points, remaining five points ahead of boys. Reading achievement for 13-year-olds improved four points for boys and three points for girls, with girls 10 points ahead. Among 17-year-olds, there was almost no change in reading achievement, with girls up one point, boys down one point and girls 14 points ahead. In mathematics achievement between 1973 and 2004, 9-year-old boys gained 25 points and girls gained 20 points, with boys ending up three points ahead. Thirteen-year-old boys increased 18 points and girls 12 points, with boys three points ahead. Among 17-year-olds, boys lost one point, girls gained four and boys were three points ahead. The report concludes that much of the pessimism about young males seems to derive from inadequate research, sloppy analysis and discomfort with the fact that although the average boy is doing better, the average girl has gotten ahead of him. Instead, the author argues that closing racial and economic gaps would help poor and minority boys more than closing gender gaps, and focusing on gender gaps may distract attention from the bigger problems facing these youngsters.
This report draws upon a wide range of published and unpublished statistical materials to present an overview of the educational status of girls and women in the United States. This statistical report assembles a series of indicators that examine the extent to which males and females have access to the same educational opportunities, avail themselves equally of these opportunities, perform at similar levels throughout schooling, succeed at similar rates, and reap the same benefits from their educational experiences. Findings include the following: females are less likely than males to repeat a grade and to drop out; on a variety of measures, males seem to be more likely than females to experience serious problems at school and to engage in risky behaviors; females have consistently outperformed males in reading and writing; gender gaps in mathematics and science appear to be shrinking; females are just as likely as males to use computers at home and at school; females are more likely than males to participate in various after school activities, except for athletics; female high school seniors tend to have higher educational aspirations than their male peers; females are more likely than males to enroll in college the fall immediately following graduation from high school; females are more likely than males to persist and attain degrees; and a majority of undergraduates are female.
Books
This book confronts what many parents and teachers believe to be a "boy's crisis." Boys receive up to 70% of the Ds and Fs given all students, they create 90% of classroom discipline problems, 80% all high school dropouts are boys, millions of American boys are on Ritalin and other mind-bending control drugs, only 45% of college students are boys, and three out of four learning disabled students are boys! Gurian and Stevens empower parents and teachers by presenting a whole new way of working with boys based on the success of Gurian Institute programs in schools across the country, and the latest research and application of neuro-biological research on how boys' brains actually work, how they are different from girls, and how they can learn very well if they are properly taught. The book includes ways for every parent to understand and influence how their own boy is doing in terms of the correct learning environment, how boys are motivated, how to use the arts and athletics to teach boys (whether or not they are sensitive boys, aggressive boys, restless or bored boys), the potential options for separate sex education at crucial periods of a boy's life, and how to best utilize the essential role of the parent, teacher, and community.
It has long been argued that our schools fail to address the needs of girls. This book claims that boys are really the ones in trouble. Boys have a more difficult time in school and are less likely than girls to go to college. The author faults “misguided feminism” for distracting our attention from the problem. Methodically analyzing and dismantling what she calls the "myth of shortchanged girls" as well as the "new and equally corrosive fiction that boys as a group are disturbed," she bolsters her findings with extensive footnotes and data from such sources as the U.S. Department of Education. The author debunks theories that girls are behind by contending that these theories are based on distorted research and skewed data.
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