The College Gender Gap and the Global Economy
The most recent statistics on what is happening to guys and why this is bad news: "The State of American Manhood"
http://www.postsecondary.org
http://postsecondaryopportunity.blogspot.com
 |
| Chart courtesy of Tom Mortenson |
| Here's a thought that's unlikely to occur to twelfth-grade girls as their college acceptances begin to
trickle in: After they get to campus in the fall, one in four of them will be mathematically unable to find a male peer to go out
with.
-Melana Zyla Vickers, "Where The Boys Aren't", The Weekly Standard, Jan 2, 2006 |
| "Eighth-grade girls score an average of 11 points higher than eighth-grade boys on standardized reading
tests. Eighth-grade girls score 21 points higher than boys on standardized writing tests."
-"The Boy Crisis" Newsweek cover story, Jan. 30, 2006 |
Closing the Achievement Gap
Michael Gurian and the Gurian Institute have developed a variety of effective teaching strategies to make schools more boy-friendly, while also benefitting girls: www.gurianinstitute.com
This website has the best information on single sex education:
www.singlesexschools.org
This website describes the national project in Great Britan, "Raising Boys' Achievement."
http://www-rba.educ.cam.ac.uk.
The state of Maine has launched a gender equity task force to examine gender imbalances in academic achievement now affecting boys.
www.boystomen.info
Edina, Minnesota has launched an imaginative district wide effort to close the gender gap. Contact Superintendent Ken Dragseth: kendragseth@edina.k12.mn.us
The website for the PBS program Raising Cain provides many links to experts in boys' education issues www.pbs.org/opb/raisingcain
Douglass Elementary School in Boulder, Colorado has had enormous
success in closing the reading gap: www.douglasselementary.com. More information about Douglass Elementary is available here: www.douglasselementary.com/gendergap.pdf
"How a New Age of Heroes Could Help Boys Read"
"What you Can Do to Help Boys Write"
| "What's most worrisome are not long-standing gender differences but recent plunges in boys' relative performance. Between 1992 and 2002, the gap by which high school girls outperformed boys on tests in both reading and writing---espectially writing---widened signficantly." -Richard Whitmire, "Boy Trouble" The New Republic, Jan 23, 2006 |
For important resources on psychological lifes of boys see:
www.williampollack.comwww.sunysb.edu/sociol/faculty/Kimmel
Recovery Program for College Men
Boyhood Studies:This website provides a venue for the inclusive study of boyhood, young masculinities, and the social-cultural position of boys worldwide as well as historically
Raising Boys' Achievements
www.boysandschools.comExcellent research-based evidence that male teachers do better with junior high school boys and female teachers, with girls: "The Why Chromosone" and "Teachers and the Gender Gaps in Student Achievement"
Boys Learning: Treasure trove of what Australia has learned about how to teach boys Boys and Schools: useful summaries of currrent research on boys and schools Smart Boys, Bad Grades: Tips for teachers for helping boys learn
"Schools In the 21st Century: Changes and Implications For Boys"
"Boys In School: What Every Teacher and Parent Should Know"
Biological Issues and Neuroscience
http://web.missouri.edu/~psycorie/Useful research summaries may be found on these web pages:
| "Vervet monkeys... displayed toy preferences that fit the stereotypes of human boys and girls; the males spend more time in contact with trucks, for example, whereas the females engaged more with dolls. Such patterns imply that the choices made by human children may stem in part from their neural wiring and not strictly from their upbrining." -Larry Cahill, Scientific American, May. 2005 |
Mary E. Costello
Contact Mary Costello for help in writing grants and organizing and runnning nonprofit organizations related to boys.
Contact: MaryCostello@CreativeEdgeConsulting.org
Website: www.CreativeEdgeConsulting.com