Boys Are Falling Behind In Reading Worldwide

Boys lag girls in reading

Past Valerie Erde

Houston, we have a problem.

Our boys and young men are falling backside generally in educational attainment.  In fact, worldwide, women are enrolling in higher and universities at much higher rates, are achieving higher grades in college, and completing degrees at higher rates than their male peers.  One explanation for this disparity is that between the ages of 15-24, boys particularly lag their female peers in reading and writing skills - skills necessary for potent performance in high school courses, on standardized tests, and in more rigorous higher-level work.

If yous're thinking "oh, that doesn't matter for my son; he'south a Stalk kid," or "my son got a actually high PSAT/ACT/SAT math score, so this isn't a trouble…., " I encourage you to think again…. and to proceed reading.

What's Going On?

I became really interested in this topic after reading a 2018 New York Times article titled, " Where Boys Outperform Girls in Math: Rich, White, and Suburban Districts ," which looked at a comprehensive report by the Stanford University Center for Pedagogy Policy Assay (CEPA).  The report analyzed 260 one thousand thousand standardized exam scores for 3rd through eighth graders, in 10,000 school districts, over a 7-year period. The Times' slice focused on the math gender gap.  (See our "bookend post about that here.)  But, to put information technology bluntly, the Times missed what I feel is the much bigger point in that data: in non one of those school districts did boys, on average, score better than girls on English language language arts (ELA) standardized tests.

And unlike the math scores, for which the data show that socio-economical factors play a significant role, with ELA scores, it didn't matter whether the commune was wealthy or poor, or what the racial makeup was.  In other words.

Everywhere in the U.S. boys are lagging girls in language arts achievement.

Gender Achievement Gap in Math and English

While it's of import that we written report achievement gaps wherever and for whomever they occur, I concur with Dr. Francesca Borgonovi, professor and former Senior Policy analyst at the OECD, that "boys' underachievement in reading, remains under-studied compared to the amount of attention that is devoted to examining girls' nether-representation in science, technology, applied science and mathematics (Stalk)."

Reading Skills & College Admissions

If your son is a math superstar, and/or just enjoys information technology more other subjects, that's fantastic!   Only a high math score alone isn't plenty to secure skilful composite scores on college entrance exams. This is especially true for the well-nigh selective colleges.  Have a look at whatever college's Common Data Set, and yous will run across that admissions departments break out math and reading scores in addition to looking at the composite.  In this table from Williams Higher, you can see that the average Deed and SAT math and reading scores hover within a few points of each other:

Williams College Common Data Set

Williams College CDS.jpg

One reason college admissions officers intendance almost reading and writing skills, even for "Stalk" kids, is that higher and mail service-graduate work volition likely be struggle — perhaps a large struggle - without them -- and that'southward for whatsoever discipline, exist it STEM, social sciences, the humanities, or the arts.

"The transition from high school to college tin exist hard for many students, because it involves independent learning and considerable hours of report outside of classroom contact fourth dimension - including the power to read textbooks and assigned readings."
— Buchmann, DiPrete, and McDaniel (2008)

And the accomplishment gap farther reinforces the false narrative that boys aren't every bit good at reading, writing – really thinking and communicating – as their female peers.

This ELA Achievement Gap Begins Early & Widens As Boys Mature

4th grade is when information technology all starts. Until then, girls and boys read about the same corporeality in school. Simply school changes a lot in fourth grade, and educators explicate it as a shift from learning to read to reading to learn. If a student isn't a strong, confident reader by 4th class, bookish life gets a lot more difficult. A weak reader may begin to fall behind, and soon troubles in reading will affect other subjects, as most learning now depends on those reading skills. A vicious cycle commences, as depression scores reinforce stereotypes that boys aren't adept at reading and writing.

The ELA gender gap isn't just most those boys whose reading skills are slower to develop. On average, beginning in quaternary course, girls brainstorm to consume more words than their male classmates—approximately 100,000 more than words per twelvemonth. This dynamic is captured unblinkingly in the Stanford study.

"The ELA testing gap widens betwixt grades 5-8, and ... this gap has stayed the same over the past several decades"
— CEPA Report, Stanford Univesity

Professor Borgonovi constitute that "such underachievement is particularly pronounced at age 15 and can vary depending on characteristics of the test such as how it is delivered, how long it is and what types of reading material are used."

Why Practise Boys End Reading?

I know from experience that boys can read critically, analyze texts closely, and engage perceptively and joyfully with a multifariousness of reading cloth from graphic novels to classic literature to scientific journal manufactures. Parents and teachers know this too. Then why do so many boys shift their focus away from books as they grow?  There are dissimilar theories. Some suggest that boys become more agile every bit they get older, unable to sit down still and read, but it is more likely that family unit and community norms play a significant role in influencing boys' reading habits.

"Gender disparities in functioning do not stem from innate differences in aptitude, only rather from students' attitudes towards learning and their behaviour in school, from how they choose to spend their leisure fourth dimension, and from the confidence they have – or do not accept – in their ain abilities as students."
— OECD "The ABC's of Gender Equality in Education Aptitude, Behaviour, Confidence"

"In 2009, a global [PISA] written report of the academic performance of xv-year-olds found that, in all but i of the 65 participating OECD countries, girls profoundly outnumber boys among students who read for enjoyment."

"Information technology could exist about some set of expectations, it could be messages kids get early on or it could exist how they're treated in school," says Sean Reardon , a professor who studies social and educational and inequality at Stanford. "Something operates to help boys more than girls in some places and help girls more than than boys in other places."