Archive for the ‘Education – Boys’ Category.

Boys

When it comes to Reading, Girls Rule!

On March 2nd, 2009, the National Education Association will sponsor as they do every year: “Read Across America”. This program focuses on motivating children to read, in addition to helping them master basic skills.

What many parents don’t realize is that for more than 30 years, boys have been scoring lower than girls on U.S. Department of Education reading tests and that the gender gap increases as kids grow up. And not only does the reading gender gap span every racial and ethnic group, but it also categorically finds boys underperforming girls regardless of income, disability, or English-speaking ability.

Read Across America Day underscores the importance of reading. The research is clear: greater reading skills equates to greater success in school. Increasingly, it also equates to greater success in the workforce as blue-collar jobs move to low-wage countries. If we don’t start to help boost our boys out of their reading slump, many of them will become unemployed adults.

Are you an educator facing challenges to get boys interested in reading? or a parent struggling for ideas on how to motivate your son to read? The “Making Minds matter” organization can help. They offer free online consulting to parents, consulting to schools and teaching to teachers to teach boys to read.