Post by RPankn on Dec 4, 2005 23:13:52 GMT -5
Far more boys than girls could be kept from graduating
ERIC STEVICK AND SCOTT NORTH; The (Everett) Herald
Published: December 4th, 2005 02:30 AM
Boys across Washington lag behind girls in key areas of a crucial test that ultimately will determine who gets a high school diploma.
It is a problem that is showing up on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning. If the pattern isn’t corrected soon, the states’ high schools could be graduating far more girls than boys in 2008.
On Thursday, Gov. Christine Gregoire said student race and income have figured large in conversations about improving student achievement.
“We really haven’t had the focus between males and females, and I think we ought to pay as much attention to that as we do all the other factors,” she said.
“I think there is a lot more pressure on boys that it’s cool not to be smart,” Gregoire added. “That is something that we need to turn around.”
At 95 percent of Washington’s high schools, the percentage of boys who passed the writing portion of the WASL was lower than that of girls. In the reading section, boys’ test scores from last spring trailed girls at 85 percent of high schools, a computer-assisted analysis by The Herald of Everett showed.
The newspaper negotiated access to individual WASL results for more than 76,000 10th-grade students statewide. Although names and other identifying information were removed, the test results showed the student’s gender and school.
The analysis found that at many schools, the gender gap is wide, with as many as 40 percent more 10th-grade boys than girls failing the writing exam.
Overall, 60 percent of the boys in Washington’s high schools failed the WASL, compared with 54 percent of girls.
A closer examination shows that one in four boys failed all three sections of the test – reading, writing and math – that must be met or exceeded in order to graduate. Statewide, about 4,000 more boys than girls failed all three key sections of the WASL, the analysis found.
The gender differences on the writing portion of the test were most stark, with about 16,800 high school boys failing compared with about 9,300 girls – a 7,500-student gap.
This year’s high school sophomores are the first class that must pass reading, math and writing WASL exams to graduate.
If last spring’s WASL determined who would get a diploma, about 1,400 more girls would be graduating than boys. There were about 1,700 more sophomore boys than girls statewide last school year.
Girls are outperforming boys in the fourth and seventh grades, too.
‘WORLDWIDE CONCERN’
These results run counter to widely held perceptions that girls are the students who need extra nurturing to reach their potential. The data suggest not enough is being done to prepare boys to pass the WASL, and that parents and educators need to be concerned whether boys can conjugate verbs, not just hit an inside curve.
“We are not alone,” said Michael Gurian, a Spokane-based education researcher and author. “In every state this is a problem, and in all 35 industrialized countries this is a reality. This is a worldwide concern.”
In the book that he co-wrote, “The Minds of Boys: Saving Our Sons From Falling Behind In School and Life,” Gurian makes the case that girls and boys are programmed differently. Girls tend to be more verbal learners, while boys are more spatial, mechanical and physical, he said. While most children can learn either way, many others struggle.
The gap in academic performance constitutes a “growing crisis in boys’ education,” according to a report released earlier this year by the New York-based Academy for Educational Development.
First lady Laura Bush has been trying to rally national attention to the academic challenges facing boys. In appearances in Portland, Los Angeles and San Francisco, she’s linked boys’ classroom woes with societal ills, including gang violence.
Ric Williams, assessment director for the Everett School District, recalls the high-profile national campaign in the early 1990s to help girls close the achievement gap in math and science. It was a crusade that has been largely successful. At the same time, the wide gap in verbal skills between boys and girls went mostly unnoticed.
One conclusion at the time was that the educational system catered to boys and shortchanged girls. Research didn’t necessarily support the perception, Williams said.
What is needed now is another cultural change, including recognition that families must take an active role in advocating for their sons’ success in the classroom, Williams said.
Parents and kids understand what to do if a young pitcher has a good fastball but no slider – they find a good coach, he said.
“We need coaches in reading and writing,” Williams said, and family ethics that make doing homework as much a priority as getting a kid to practice on time.
The WASL results mirror other state and national trends: Girls are more likely to make the honor roll, graduate from high school and go to college. Boys are more apt than girls to drop out of high school or end up in special-education programs.
Beginning this year, state law allows four retakes in any WASL subject, and high schools are gearing up to add classes that will help students who fail. Most of the students in those classes will be boys.
While boys and girls are neck-and-neck in math on the WASL, boys are well behind in reading and light years behind in writing.
Last year, nearly 75 percent of 10th-grade girls passed the WASL in writing. Boys had a 57 percent pass rate in writing. Tenth-grade girls reached that success rate five years ago.
In the increasingly sophisticated world of test-score analysis, where assessment experts dissect WASL results by race, income, disability and native languages of recent immigrants, the gender gap is a less publicized but growing concern.
“It’s really an issue we need to address,” said Joel Thaut, superintendent of the Granite Falls School District. “We don’t have any answers yet. It just points out we have so much to do.”
FOCUSING ON THE INDIVIDUAL
Tacoma, the state’s third-largest school district, hasn’t analyzed test scores based on gender, said deputy superintendent Ethelda Burke.
“Our focus right now is on improving (academic achievement) across the board, in all areas, for all groups … at all grade levels. We are trying to focus on those areas where we need to improve at the most serious level.”
The situation is similar in Peninsula School District.
“We look at each student as an individual” and address that person’s needs, said Peninsula Superintendent Jim Coolican. “We’ve not done anything to focus on this gender or that gender.”
Mary Alice Heuschel, deputy superintendent of learning and teaching for the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, said state officials are aware that girls are outperforming boys on the reading and writing parts of the WASL.
“When you are talking about this kind of pattern in data, it’s always a good idea to raise the level of consciousness to say, ‘Why is this happening and what can we do about it?’” Heuschel said. “Perhaps there are some things we can do that engage boys that we are not doing now.”
For a searchable database comparing WASL results for boys and girls in all of Washington’s public schools, go to www.heraldnet.com/wasl.
www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/5375711p-4861836c.html
ERIC STEVICK AND SCOTT NORTH; The (Everett) Herald
Published: December 4th, 2005 02:30 AM
Boys across Washington lag behind girls in key areas of a crucial test that ultimately will determine who gets a high school diploma.
It is a problem that is showing up on the Washington Assessment of Student Learning. If the pattern isn’t corrected soon, the states’ high schools could be graduating far more girls than boys in 2008.
On Thursday, Gov. Christine Gregoire said student race and income have figured large in conversations about improving student achievement.
“We really haven’t had the focus between males and females, and I think we ought to pay as much attention to that as we do all the other factors,” she said.
“I think there is a lot more pressure on boys that it’s cool not to be smart,” Gregoire added. “That is something that we need to turn around.”
At 95 percent of Washington’s high schools, the percentage of boys who passed the writing portion of the WASL was lower than that of girls. In the reading section, boys’ test scores from last spring trailed girls at 85 percent of high schools, a computer-assisted analysis by The Herald of Everett showed.
The newspaper negotiated access to individual WASL results for more than 76,000 10th-grade students statewide. Although names and other identifying information were removed, the test results showed the student’s gender and school.
The analysis found that at many schools, the gender gap is wide, with as many as 40 percent more 10th-grade boys than girls failing the writing exam.
Overall, 60 percent of the boys in Washington’s high schools failed the WASL, compared with 54 percent of girls.
A closer examination shows that one in four boys failed all three sections of the test – reading, writing and math – that must be met or exceeded in order to graduate. Statewide, about 4,000 more boys than girls failed all three key sections of the WASL, the analysis found.
The gender differences on the writing portion of the test were most stark, with about 16,800 high school boys failing compared with about 9,300 girls – a 7,500-student gap.
This year’s high school sophomores are the first class that must pass reading, math and writing WASL exams to graduate.
If last spring’s WASL determined who would get a diploma, about 1,400 more girls would be graduating than boys. There were about 1,700 more sophomore boys than girls statewide last school year.
Girls are outperforming boys in the fourth and seventh grades, too.
‘WORLDWIDE CONCERN’
These results run counter to widely held perceptions that girls are the students who need extra nurturing to reach their potential. The data suggest not enough is being done to prepare boys to pass the WASL, and that parents and educators need to be concerned whether boys can conjugate verbs, not just hit an inside curve.
“We are not alone,” said Michael Gurian, a Spokane-based education researcher and author. “In every state this is a problem, and in all 35 industrialized countries this is a reality. This is a worldwide concern.”
In the book that he co-wrote, “The Minds of Boys: Saving Our Sons From Falling Behind In School and Life,” Gurian makes the case that girls and boys are programmed differently. Girls tend to be more verbal learners, while boys are more spatial, mechanical and physical, he said. While most children can learn either way, many others struggle.
The gap in academic performance constitutes a “growing crisis in boys’ education,” according to a report released earlier this year by the New York-based Academy for Educational Development.
First lady Laura Bush has been trying to rally national attention to the academic challenges facing boys. In appearances in Portland, Los Angeles and San Francisco, she’s linked boys’ classroom woes with societal ills, including gang violence.
Ric Williams, assessment director for the Everett School District, recalls the high-profile national campaign in the early 1990s to help girls close the achievement gap in math and science. It was a crusade that has been largely successful. At the same time, the wide gap in verbal skills between boys and girls went mostly unnoticed.
One conclusion at the time was that the educational system catered to boys and shortchanged girls. Research didn’t necessarily support the perception, Williams said.
What is needed now is another cultural change, including recognition that families must take an active role in advocating for their sons’ success in the classroom, Williams said.
Parents and kids understand what to do if a young pitcher has a good fastball but no slider – they find a good coach, he said.
“We need coaches in reading and writing,” Williams said, and family ethics that make doing homework as much a priority as getting a kid to practice on time.
The WASL results mirror other state and national trends: Girls are more likely to make the honor roll, graduate from high school and go to college. Boys are more apt than girls to drop out of high school or end up in special-education programs.
Beginning this year, state law allows four retakes in any WASL subject, and high schools are gearing up to add classes that will help students who fail. Most of the students in those classes will be boys.
While boys and girls are neck-and-neck in math on the WASL, boys are well behind in reading and light years behind in writing.
Last year, nearly 75 percent of 10th-grade girls passed the WASL in writing. Boys had a 57 percent pass rate in writing. Tenth-grade girls reached that success rate five years ago.
In the increasingly sophisticated world of test-score analysis, where assessment experts dissect WASL results by race, income, disability and native languages of recent immigrants, the gender gap is a less publicized but growing concern.
“It’s really an issue we need to address,” said Joel Thaut, superintendent of the Granite Falls School District. “We don’t have any answers yet. It just points out we have so much to do.”
FOCUSING ON THE INDIVIDUAL
Tacoma, the state’s third-largest school district, hasn’t analyzed test scores based on gender, said deputy superintendent Ethelda Burke.
“Our focus right now is on improving (academic achievement) across the board, in all areas, for all groups … at all grade levels. We are trying to focus on those areas where we need to improve at the most serious level.”
The situation is similar in Peninsula School District.
“We look at each student as an individual” and address that person’s needs, said Peninsula Superintendent Jim Coolican. “We’ve not done anything to focus on this gender or that gender.”
Mary Alice Heuschel, deputy superintendent of learning and teaching for the state Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction, said state officials are aware that girls are outperforming boys on the reading and writing parts of the WASL.
“When you are talking about this kind of pattern in data, it’s always a good idea to raise the level of consciousness to say, ‘Why is this happening and what can we do about it?’” Heuschel said. “Perhaps there are some things we can do that engage boys that we are not doing now.”
For a searchable database comparing WASL results for boys and girls in all of Washington’s public schools, go to www.heraldnet.com/wasl.
www.thenewstribune.com/news/local/story/5375711p-4861836c.html
