The Reading Blog

The American Association of University Women (AAUW) newest report “Where the Girls Are: The Facts About Gender Equity in Education” is a detailed examination of girls’ educational gains in the past 35 year and the potential relationship between educational progress,gender, and other factors. Here are the three main takeaway messages from this report (embellished by a couple of my editorial comments):  

• Girls’ educational successes have not been achieved at the expense of boys’ achievements (The so-called myth of a “boys’ crisis” in education that has been floating around for a few years)
• On average, the educational performance of both girls and boys has improved over this time period
• Educational disparities are linked to income level and race/ethnicity (I am not sure if the AAUW report has controlled for income level in their analyses of race and ethnicity versus educational achievement)

So, the reality is that indeed there is an education crisis. And it’s not about girls taking away anything from boys, but about socioeconomic factors. Not a huge surprise, but it obviously needs to be hammered on repeatedly since the powers that be (at the National and State level) have done little, if anything, about it. And no, the Testing”R”Us mandate of No Child Left Behind is not the solution. But that might be food for a future Blog.

For those of you who need to read about this report in the regular media, check out Tamar Lewin’s article “Girls’ Gains Have not Cost Boys, Report Says” published in the May 20, 2008 issue of The New York Times and Valerie Strauss’ article “No Crisis for Boys in School, Study Says” from the May 20, 2008 issue of the Washington Post.