<p>One suburban Chicago School District is taking affirmative steps to deal with the "problem of educating boys." They aren't turning their backs, but rather, tackling the problem head on.</p>
<p>Daaaaaad, I can't get the link to work. Can you help me? (whining loudly) Daaaaad. I can't get the link to work!!!</p>
<p>Yeah, humor is hard to do online. Actually, I saw the story earlier and just want to say: Yes! Some educators can see that there is some action the education community can take to try to address the failure rate of boys in school. Email this story over to the geniuses in the Education Sector and also to Judith Warner at the NYT. Maybe she'll do another column only this time act like a journalist instead of a shill for a particular POV. </p>
<p>For more school districts to take action, I think what has to happen is similar to what happened at the grassroots level after the 1992 AAUW report came out claiming that the American education system shortchanges girls. Specifically, moms of girls at back-to-school night and in PTA meetings would assert their right to lobby on behalf of their daughters and ask: What are you doing to encourage girls in math and science? What's the distribution of girls and boys in the advanced classes, particularly math and science? And so on. Principals and teachers responded. Corporations responded, sponsoring special mentoring programs for girls. The same needs to happen on behalf of boys, IMO. Parents need to lobby for efforts to be made on the behalf of boys in the classroom, starting at the elementary level.</p>
<p>I'll just post the whole article:</p>
<p>Learning how to teach boys</p>
<p>A study done by Wilmette District 39 found that boys don't do as well in school as girls--and it's taking steps to help close that gap</p>
<p>By Lisa Black
Tribune staff reporter</p>
<p>September 1, 2006</p>
<p>A Wilmette study that shows boys consistently lag behind girls academically and are disciplined more often in elementary school comes as no surprise to 15-year-old Quinn Pinaire.</p>
<p>He recalls 2nd grade as his worst school year, ever.</p>
<p>"I had a group of kids I sat with in the back and the teacher always yelled at us," said Pinaire of Wilmette, now a sophomore at New Trier Township High School.</p>
<p>"I was upset and remember thinking she yelled at us a lot and never yelled at the girls."</p>
<p>He admits that he often talked and didn't pay attention in class, a common scenario that educators in Wilmette--and across the nation--increasingly blame on gender learning differences and the preponderance of female teachers.</p>
<p>The report by Wilmette Public Schools District 39 in August recommended steps to accommodate boys' learning styles. The school board is expected to formally approve the action plan at its next meeting, Sept. 18.</p>
<p>The plan calls for the district to try to hire more male teachers, keep a long-term database of grades and test scores, build awareness among parents and teachers, and review classroom arrangements and teaching techniques, Supt. Glenn "Max" McGee said.</p>
<p>"Boys have some different neurological approaches to learning and may be wired differently," McGee said. "You really can teach to the way they learn."</p>
<p>McGee, formerly superintendent of the Illinois State Board of Education, said that he began looking at how District 39 student performance compared with national findings years ago. After he shared his concerns with the school board, it assigned its long-standing Community Review Committee to take up the research in late 2005.</p>
<p>The committee of teachers, administrators and parents reviewed four years of test scores and grades, broken down by gender. They compared the data to national findings, surveyed teachers and reviewed brain research on gender differences.</p>
<p>The committee found that in Grades 5 through 8 the girls' classroom grades were higher than boys in reading, writing, science and math, with the gap widening in the older grades. Boys were significantly more likely to receive a C or lower in class, and girls were more likely to get an A.</p>
<p>On standardized tests, boys fared better in math, but continued to fall behind in language arts.</p>
<p>The research showed that 71 percent of the district's special education pupils are boys, and that boys represent the majority of discipline referrals and suspensions. More than 3,500 pupils are enrolled in District 39.</p>
<p>"Everything they're finding, we're finding around the country," said Michael Gurian, a national expert and author on gender differences. He recently spoke to teachers from District 39 and Avoca School District 37, also based in Wilmette.</p>
<p>"The gap exists among all races and income, across the board," said Gurian of Spokane, Wash., who said that Wilmette's study is among the few nationwide that analyze a single school district.</p>
<p>The study notes that the focus has shifted to boys, nationally, after years spent addressing anti-female bias in classrooms and the workplace.</p>
<p>Analyzing the differences in Wilmette was the first step. Next, the committee drew on brain research to attempt to draw conclusions about what was contributing to the boys' relatively poor performance--and what the district could do about it.</p>
<p>Among other things, the research told them that boys are more attuned to spatial-mechanical functioning, and girls use more of their brain for verbal and emotive functioning.</p>
<p>"The more words a teacher uses, the more likely boys are to `zone out,' or go into rest state," according to the Wilmette report. "The male brain is better suited for symbols, abstractions, diagrams, pictures and objects moving through space than the monotony of words."
Researchers suggest that teachers let boys move around more in the classroom, from walking around their desks every so often to sprawling out on the floor. They also suggest that teachers encourage competition to get the best work out of boys, or ask them to draw pictures of what they want to say before they begin a writing assignment.
Gender differences don't end with how students learn. So the district also is examining its hiring practices to ensure that male candidates are given a closer look, McGee said.
During the 2005-06 school year, only 18 of the district's 155 teachers were men, according to the report. Most of the 18 taught 7th and 8th grades, with no men teaching in kindergarten through 3rd-grade classrooms.
The report states that the percentage of male applicants who are hired as teachers is low, and that analysis suggests "the evaluation criteria used for selecting teachers may reinforce these gender disparities."
Officials plan to work with neighboring elementary school districts and New Trier for further study, and will present the report during an Illinois Association of School Boards conference in Chicago this November.
"I'm proud of the district for being willing to say there are things we can do better," said Jason Weller, a parent who served on the committee that produced the report.
The district will push for improvements that will benefit boys and girls, he said.
Some changes have begun already.
At Central Elementary, 4th-grade teacher James Tingey allows pupils to squeeze squishy toys as an outlet for fidgeting or to relieve stress.
"In the past, when kids brought toys to school they would be confiscated," said Principal Melanie Horowitz.
On Wednesday, the first day of school, one boy chewed on a wristband while another rested his chin on his desk during math. When Tingey rolled a pair of dice, promising a pizza party under certain conditions, the boys came alive.
"Two! Two! Two!" they chanted, pumping arms in air, referring to the number they wanted to see rolled.
"We don't want to stereotype situations, but we don't want to ignore research," said Horowitz, standing nearby.
Pinaire, who has three brothers, said he sees benefits in raising awareness among teachers.
Now that he's in high school, he said, he enjoys listening and learning. But in 2nd grade, "We didn't care," he said.
"Girls kind of understand, they get it quicker that they need to pay attention."
Boys `zone out'</p>
<ul>
<li><p>From the report by Wilmette Public Schools District 39: "The more words a teacher uses, the more likely boys are to `zone out,' or go into rest state. The male brain is better suited for symbols, abstractions, diagrams, pictures and objects moving through space than the monotony of words."</p></li>
<li><p>A possible fix:</p></li>
</ul>
<p>Researchers suggest that teachers let boys move around more in the classroom and encourage competition to get the best work out of them.</p>
<hr>
<p><a href="mailto:lblack@tribune.com">lblack@tribune.com</a></p>
<p>Copyright © 2006, Chicago Tribune</p>
<p>Jazzy, send me her email address and I'll be happy to give her the news...</p>