NH literacy journeys

I’ve been searching for more information on the gender gap in literacy. It is pretty compelling. I’ve pasted in below some of what I found, plus Boy-friendly Teaching. 

• From a recent study reported by the National Bureau of Economic Research, “Overall, the data suggest that, “a large fraction of boys’ dramatic underperformance in reading reflects the classroom dynamics associated with the fact that their reading teachers are overwhelmingly female.” According to the U.S. Department of Education’s 1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey, 91 percent of the nation’s sixth grade reading teachers, and 83 percent of eighth grade reading teachers are female. This depresses boys’ achievement. The fact that most middle school teachers of math, science, and history are also female may raise girls’ achievement. In short, the current gender imbalance in middle school staffing may be reducing the gender gap in science by helping girls but exacerbating the gender gap in reading by handicapping boys.”
• The Programme for International Assessment confirmed another trend in education, namely that there is a significant gender gap in reading and writing. Girls performed significantly better than boys on the reading and writing tests in all countries. Even in Finland, the top-ranked participant, there was a gender gap in the results in reading. Finnish girls scored 571 while boys scored only 520. In Canada the literacy gender gap was similar with girls’ scores being 551 and boys gaining 519. Girls in the USA scored only 518 but American boys lagged behind at 490. The same literacy gender gap was noted in all participating countries.
• Lower academic achievement can also have a negative impact on self-esteem. As the Canadians noted, ‘poor reading performance can have a profound effect on performance in other subjects’. Boys were marginally ahead of girls in mathematics but it’s language literacy that is essential to academic success.Those figures have numerous negative implications. A smaller percentage of boys than girls finish high school – another worldwide phenomenon. Even when the boys do graduate high school, a smaller percentage of them are now enrolling in college or University.One theory purports that schools simply don’t suit boys. Flinders University in South Australia interviewed 1,800 boys from 61 schools about boys’ declining rates of achievement and retention – another international phenomenon. 
• A summary of their main findings is that “most boys don’t value school; school work is boring, repetitive and irrelevant. Also, school … expects adult behaviour but doesn’t deliver an adult environment and there are not enough good teachers.”
• Boy-friendly TeachingThe 2000 PISA results were a shock, but one that lead to positive changes in curriculum and ways of teaching. To ensure greater academic success for boys, our literacy teaching strategies must be more engaging for boys.We must: 
• Allow greater choice in topics and the way assignments are completed, presented and assessed.
• Focus classroom activities on ways to harness boys’ energy.Ensure that lessons allow for movement rather than expect hours of sitting still and being sedate.
• Make learning more activity-centred rather than pen and paper
• Increase the range of literacy practices that are taughtEncourage team effort and collaborative learning. Boys can succeed when they contribute to part of a group project, rather than fail the entire task
• In selecting topics for reading and writing, see boys’ interest in real life tasks as a bonus not a deficit. Select more ‘how to’ books, non-fiction texts, comics, magazines based on their interests.
• Encourage students to create audio books, e-books, websites.

 This teaching is pretty challenging… always something new to learn.  Enjoy the sun! In fact, forget blogging… get out in it!

I found myself remembering little moments from Tom’s visit yesterday as I drove home. The graph of worldwide gender differences in literacy in 4th grade was an amazing collection of statistics. Why don’t we honor the natural development of boys in literacy, which clearly is not at the same pace as girls? No wonder boys sometimes feel that reading and writing are just not for them… no one wants to keep trying something that is too difficult or frustrating.I also thought about Tom’s statement that the math gap between boys and girls has been shrunk to 3 points on the NAEP assessment since we identified it in the ’60’s. The writing gap is 40 points. It seems like that ought to get a little attention in this world. Did you know in 30 hours of televised debates between candidates this political cycle education has received just 21 minutes of that time?And lastly, I am still thinking about volume. How do we increase the amount students are reading? What gets in the way?I look forward to your responses.Penny

Tom Newkirk says in one of the articles I put in your box to prepare for his visit to our school, “By now, the difficulty that boys as a group experience in school literacy is no longer news. Boys fall behind girls in reading and writing early on, never to catch up. By the end of high school, the gender gap in writing is huge. In fact, it’s as large as the achievement gap between whites and blacks in writing (NCES, 2002). Difficulty with reading and writing tasks plays a role in the dramatically higher high school dropout rate for males, particularly black males (Greene & Winters, 2006). It also partially accounts for the fact that 57 percent of college students are now female and only 43 percent are male, a reversal of the percentages in 1970 (U.S. Bureau of Census, 2005). This gender gap is most pronounced among Hispanic and black populations, in which the college graduation ratio of females to males approaches 2:1 (Hacker, 2003).”For boys, these numbers can translate into feelings of shame and embarrassment and, ultimately, to self-defeating strategies of avoidance and resistance (Boldt, 2006). During independent reading time, look for the boy flipping through the pages of National Geographic magazine–he’s becoming a master of “fake reading.” Or look for the anger that arises when the teacher assigns a reading task. “This is stupid!” the student exclaims. Or look for delaying tactics during writing time–the pencil always breaks, the paper that’s always mangled. In high school, these students find ways of familiarizing themselves with a book’s plot without ever reading the book.”For these boys, a difficulty has turned into an identity. Many come to identify themselves as nonreaders, as nonwriters–indeed, as nonstudents. They choose a self-protective strategy that conceals their difficulty with literacy. By doing so, they enter a downward spiral. Because they have mastered avoidance tactics, these boys don’t get the reading practice they need; as literacy tasks become more difficult, the gap widens, and their avoidance becomes ever more necessary.”…To keep boys on the literacy train, educators need to ask Gene Kranz’s question, “What’s good?” What positive cultural, artistic, and linguistic resources can we tap into to improve literacy instruction for boys?”We know the boys Newkirk speaks of. We have them in our classrooms. So I ask you, what Newkirk asks, what’s good? What works? What engages the reluctant boys you work with? Let’s share and learn from each other…