Q. I’ve recently read that boys really aren’t having trouble in school, that it is all hype. Is that true?
A. A recent report by the American Association for University Women (AAUW) entitled Where the girls are: the facts about gender equity in education says that there is no “boy crisis” in schools. The report uses information from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) and the Department of Education to substantiate their claim that on average, the educational performance of both boys and girls has improved. Not entirely true.
The NAEP reading scores indicate that the gender gap is closing for younger children, but widening for older children. At age 9, girls are 6 points ahead of boys, but at age 17, girls are 13 points ahead of boys. Boys are ahead of girls at all levels by 2 points , but in 1978 and 1982, in 4th grade, girls were ahead of boys in math. While the scores of all children in some subjects are rising, at least in part because teachers are grooming children for standardized tests, the effect is not as positive as the AAUW would have us believe.
The success that girls are having in schools makes the problems of boys more obvious. This is nothing new, just more visible.