Why Boys Struggle in School and What Can Be Done
March 8, 2011
Today is International Women’s Day and, while we have paid lots of attention to girls’ learning, it is well known that boys are falling behind girls in terms of educational success. They do worse on tests in language and math. They receive fewer academic honours in high school and they are harder and harder to find on university campuses. Boys are much more likely to be labeled with a learning disability and they have a much higher risk of dropping out of school altogether.
The Society for Quality Education has launched a new website resource to provide information about why boys struggle in school and what can be done about the gender gap: www.boyseducation.ca. This new site links visitors to data, information, and programs that will help boys overcome challenges in reading and math.
“It’s great that more attention is starting to be paid to the gender gap, but some obvious solutions are being overlooked,” said SQE President Malkin Dare. “For example, in Scotland the use of systematic phonics in the early grades eliminated the gender gap in reading. As a matter of fact, the boys actually did better than the girls in some cases. ”
The Society’s new website is intended for parents and teachers who want to help their male students who struggle in school.
The Society for Quality Education is dedicated to the significant improvement of student learning in Canada. We invite journalists to visit our main website www.societyforqualityeducation.org .