[regional_school] Why Boys Fail - interview with Richard Whitmire

  • From: NSMULTER@xxxxxxx
  • To: regional_school@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:40:10 EDT

Wish I knew how to forward this interview video - you'll have to put the  
web address in your browser. 
It's definitely worth it!
  
_http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/whyboysfail/2010/03/cep_report_on_gender_gap
s_released.html?print=1_ 
(http://blogs.edweek.org/edweek/whyboysfail/2010/03/cep_report_on_gender_gaps_released.html?print=1)
 
 
Also: in the EducationWeek piece below, Jack Jennings, president  and CEO 
of the _Center on Education  Policy_ (http://www.cep-dc.org/)  - a 
Washington-based research and advocacy group that just  released results of 
their 
gender gap study, says: “Something is going on in our schools holding back  
boys.
” 
 
Yes, yes, yes!!!!  And the why is so obvious to  those of us with knowledge 
about brain development who've been closely observing  PreK and 
Kindergarten classrooms over the past 15 years!  Finally  someone is speaking 
out and 
has found a national audience!!  According  to Richard Whitmire, it all 
started about 20 years when the Governors  got together to upgrade standards!  
(Sound familiar?)  Moving  second grade literacy standards into Kindergarten 
back then did not take  into account the hard wiring of the male brain!  And 
it's  just the tip of the iceberg!
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 


 
 
 
Published Online: March 17, 2010

Boys Trail Girls in Reading Across States
By _Erik W.  Robelen_ 
(http://www.edweek.org/ew/contributors/erik.robelen.html)  
 
 
(javascript:{window.location.replace('http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/03/17/27gender.h29.html')})
 A new study on gender differences in  
academic achievement, offering what it calls “good news for girls and bad news  
for 
boys,” finds that, overall, male students in every state where data were  
available lag behind females in reading, based on an analysis of recent state 
 test results. At the same time, in mathematics, a subject in which girls 
have  historically trailed, the percentages of both genders scoring “
proficient” or  higher were roughly the same, with boys edging out girls 
slightly in 
some states  and girls posting somewhat stronger scores in others.
In certain states, such as Arkansas, Hawaii, New Mexico, and Vermont, the  
gender gap for reading proficiency was 10 percentage points or higher, based 
on  2008 test data. 
“The most pressing issue related to gender gaps is the lagging performance 
of  boys in reading,” says the report, released today by the _Center on 
Education Policy_ (http://www.cep-dc.org/) , a Washington-based  research and 
advocacy group. 
In a conference call with reporters, Jack Jennings, the group’s president 
and  chief executive officer, noted that whether looking at student outcomes 
at the  elementary, middle, or high school level, male rates of proficiency 
were lower  than for females across all states studied in 2008. (Forty-five 
states had data  available for all three levels.) 
“There is a consistent achievement gap,” he said. “Something is going on 
in  our schools holding back boys.”  The report does offer some encouragement 
 for boys in reading, suggesting that as a group, they are making some 
gains over  time, and that the gender gap has narrowed in many states. 
For instance, in 38 out of 44 states, the percentages of 4th grade boys  
scoring proficient or higher climbed between 2002 and 2008. Also, in 24 out of 
 44 states, the gender gap for 4th graders in the percentage of students 
scoring  proficient or higher narrowed over that time period, though it 
widened in  another 14 states. 
When looking at the data another way, however, based on changes in the  
average of test scores, the gaps between boys and girls in reading “widened  
across all three grade levels [elementary, middle, and high school] as often 
as  they narrowed.” 
‘Clear and Startling’ Differences
The new report from the Center on Education Policy is part of a series of  
studies the organization has been conducting that examine trends on state 
tests  since 2002, when the federal No Child Left Behind Act was signed into 
law by  President George W. Bush. 
 
 
Math
Percentage of Female and Male Students Proficient in Math on State Tests,  
2008 
 
 (javascript:popUp('/media/27gender-c1.pdf', 
'toolbar=0,scrollbars=0,location=0,statusbar=0,menubar=0,resizable=1,width=800,height=1000','ewpopup'))
 

Reading
Percentage of Female and Male Students Proficient in Reading on State 
Tests,  2008 
 
 (javascript:popUp('/media/27gender-c2.pdf', 
'toolbar=0,scrollbars=0,location=0,statusbar=0,menubar=0,resizable=1,width=800,height=1000','ewpopup'))
 

SOURCE: Center on Education Policy


The center notes that one reason for the report’s focus on the rate of  
students deemed “proficient” is that the designation is the key indicator used 
 to determine whether districts and schools have made adequate yearly 
progress  under the federal law. However, as the report emphasizes, each state 
uses its  own tests to gauge proficiency and also sets its own cutoff score 
for what it  judges proficient. 
The report says that research has long noted historical differences in the  
achievement of boys and girls in reading and math, though considerable 
recent  research suggests there is no longer a gender gap in math achievement.  
With its state-by-state analysis, the report is able to identify those 
states  that appear to struggle the most with gender gaps in reading. In 
Arkansas, the  gap was 13 percentage points at the elementary level and 14 
percentage points at  both middle and high school in 2008. On state tests in 
Hawaii 
that year, boys  came in 14 percentage points behind at the elementary 
level, 13 in middle  school, and 16 in high school. 
In the conference call, Mr. Jennings noted that even Massachusetts, a state 
 known for its strong academic standards and performance, has a sizable 
gender  gap, at 13 percentage points for elementary students in 2008. 
Some other states, however, such as Florida, Kansas, Nebraska, and 
Virginia,  had much smaller reading gaps at all levels. In Virginia, for 
example, 
the  gender gap for boys was 3 percentage points at the elementary and middle 
levels  and just 1 percentage point in high school. 
In most cases, the gender gap in state math achievement did not exceed 5  
percentage points, the 2008 data show. 
Susan B. Neuman, an education professor at the University of Michigan who  
specializes in literacy development, called the new study “an 
extraordinarily  important document.” 
Ms. Neuman, a former U.S. assistant education secretary under President 
Bush  who was invited to participate in the conference call but was not 
involved in  the study, emphasized the findings with regard to boys’ 
achievement, 
noting that  it is a relatively recent trend. 
“We’ve been talking about closing the achievement gap in so many different 
 ways, ... but we have not focused on the gender gap, which is very clear 
and  startling in this report.” 
She added, “I think we have to re-evaluate our curricula, re-evaluate how 
we  are managing our classrooms.” 
Vol. 29, Issue  27 
_http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/03/17/27gender.h29.html?tkn=QUWFFACO
Cp9dRJixqIXUzDtAjsWu8TC2Ewmg&cmp=clp-edweek_ 
(http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2010/03/17/27gender.h29.html?tkn=QUWFFACOCp9dRJixqIXUzDtAjsWu8TC2Ewmg&cm
p=clp-edweek) 



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