Equity & Diversity Blog

Why Boys Fail

This blog was written by Richard Whitmire, a former editorial writer at USA Today and past board president of the National Education Writers Association, and a frequent opinion commentator on national education issues. This blog is no longer being updated, but you can continue to explore these issues on edweek.org by visiting our related topic pages: boys.

Reading & Literacy Opinion States Tweaking Reading Instruction
Great roundup from Education Week. In my book, the schools that did as well with boys as girls had flexible reading programs designed to reach all students. They also had "re-teach" systems designed to loop back and catch laggards (for the most part, that would be the boys).
Richard Whitmire, June 30, 2011
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School Choice & Charters Opinion Trend on Urban Boys Charters Continues
Next up: Denver.
Richard Whitmire, June 30, 2011
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1 min read
Education Opinion 'The Truth About Boys and Girls'
Sara Mead's 2006 paper from Education Sector questioning the "boy troubles" was a smash hit among national feminist groups that had been looking for facts and figures to counter the rising concerns about how boys were doing in school. One of their worries: if educators shift their focus to boys the special attention girls have been getting for nearly two decades will fade.
Richard Whitmire, June 30, 2011
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Education Opinion Promising Research on National Guard School Model
The highly regarded MDRC continues to follow the results of the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program for high school dropouts, and the outcomes look good. Roughly 80 percent of the participants are males.
Richard Whitmire, June 29, 2011
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Education Opinion New Gender-and-the-Classroom Blog
Best thing about this blog is that it is written by David Chadwell, who has been overseeing the single-gender school experiment in South Carolina (maybe he's weary of my skepticism about single-sex classrooms).
Richard Whitmire, June 29, 2011
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School Choice & Charters Opinion Boys Prep Approved in Nashville
Boys charters in urban areas becoming a popular antidote to the boy troubles.
Richard Whitmire, June 29, 2011
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Federal Opinion Could an Updated NCLB Help Boys?
Of course it could, by eliminating the obvious gender loophole from the first version of the law. RiShawn Biddle and I make the argument in USA Today.
Richard Whitmire, June 28, 2011
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Education Opinion Violent Video Games Turning Boys Into Killers?
Without the courts to backstop censorship, that's the fear of many. And then, on the other hand.
Richard Whitmire, June 28, 2011
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Federal Opinion Going Gender Neutral in Sweden
Interesting.
Richard Whitmire, June 28, 2011
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Equity & Diversity Opinion The Sex Selection Debate
What's interesting in this debate about sex selection, which leads to imbalances "favoring" men in many countries, is not the issue of abortion but rather the impact of the imbalances.
Richard Whitmire, June 28, 2011
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Equity & Diversity Opinion How To Make Schools Boy Friendly
Educational psychologist Lori Day takes a swing at that question at Huffington:
Richard Whitmire, June 27, 2011
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College & Workforce Readiness Opinion Needed: More Workers With 'Some' College Education
From the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce.
Richard Whitmire, June 27, 2011
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Education Opinion Marriageable Mate Discussion
This time, it's about black women and white men. But I predict the focus of popular culture articles about this will soon shift to white women unable to find suitable males.
Richard Whitmire, June 27, 2011
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Equity & Diversity Opinion 'Machismo' Hurts Latino Males in Higher Education
Male pride keeps Hispanic males from reaching out for help, said those at the Latino Male Symposium in Austin (password required).
Richard Whitmire, June 27, 2011
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