How’s this for an understated and yet disconcerting headline:
American Girls Read and Write Better than American Boys. This from a study by the American Psychological Association.
The summary of the 2018 report reads as follows:
As early as the fourth grade, girls perform better than boys on standardized tests in reading and writing, and as they get older that achievement gap widens even more.
Dr. Michael Gurian, in his book, Saving Our Sons: A New Path for Raising Healthy and Resilient Boys, includes this statistic:
The well-known female gap in math/science is a 3-point gap while the male gap in literacy is a 10-point gap, leaving males 1 and 1/2 years behind females in literacy skills, and skewing all aggregate test scores toward much higher female and lower male performance. (p. 7)
The APA study, lead by David Reilly, a doctoral student at Griffith University, offers the following insights:
Reilly and his colleagues analyzed information from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, a nationally representative data sample of standardized test scores from more than 3.4 million students in the fourth, eighth and 12th grades in the United States over a span of 27 years.
While the tests showed that girls, in general, scored significantly higher than boys in both reading and writing in the fourth grade, that gap widened further in eighth and 12th grades, and the difference was far more substantial for writing than it was for reading.
"It appears that the gender gap for writing tasks has been greatly underestimated, and that despite our best efforts with changes in teaching methods does not appear to be reducing over time," said Reilly.
Why does this matter? Because raising boys to thrive and to be positive contributors to society depends increasingly on their ability to read and write.
"Reading and writing sets the stage for later schooling. While we've concentrated on basic literacy, the demands on students for writing grow stronger as they progress through education. In particular, it's crucial for high school and college entry. Each year, more women than men apply for college entry, and more women than men complete their college degrees. It has a cascading effect on students, either up or down," said Reilly.
And, I’d suggest, a cascading effect on boys who, statistics affirm again and again, are struggling to find significance, purpose, and jobs.
Reilly’s assessment that the gap doesn’t seem to be shrinking is disheartening, but it’s not the end of the story.
Reading starts in the home. So we’ll start there:
Rediscover your own love for reading. Let your children/boys see you reading. It’s particularly important for boys to see the men in their lives reading.
Find books your son enjoys. These books tend to be fast-paced, humorous, and page-turning. It doesn’t have to be a “traditional book.” If graphic novels (comic books) work for your son, then graphic novels it is.
Move your son from reading a screen to reading a book. The screen offers too many temptations to move on to something else. Holding, feeling, smelling the book, turning pages, putting in a bookmark or dog-earing a page help involve all of his senses. (E-Readers are better than screens, but can’t compete with the whole “book” experience.)
Read a book together. Either read it with him, taking turns reading out loud together, or read it separately and discuss each chapter for a few minutes.
Find a movie your son is interested in and if it’s based on a book, read the book before seeing the movie. Then talk about the differences between the book and the movie and why the screenwriter may have made the changes she/he made.
Set aside reading time each day. Before screen time—reading time. This doesn’t need to be a chore or punishment if you are helping your son develop a love for reading.
Share with your son the many benefits of reading vs. screen time. Some boys are inspired by the science behind how their brains work and what’s good for their brains.
Check out this episode of the Wonder of Parenting Podcast where Dr. Michael Gurian and I interview Sean Kullman of the Global Initiative for Boys and Men as he shares his research and insights on the reading gap.
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The Adventures of Toby Baxter Book 3: Aloha RiverHome—The GOOD Prophecy is now available on Amazon.