From the Boston Globe: One of the more disturbing findings focused on 12th-grade reading levels on the 2009 National Assessment of Educational Progress exams. In reading, 51 percent of African-American males and 45 percent of Hispanic males scored below basic. By contrast, 36 percent of African-American female students and 33 per cent of Hispanic female students scored below basic, while 24 percent of white male students and 13 percent of white female students scored below basic. Boosting the achievement of young men of color is "critical to the economic welfare of the country,'' said John Lee, who authored the ...

ETS joins with a Harvard advocacy group to point out the problems seen among minority males. While both the reports and campaign are positive signs, I continue to have misgivings about defining this issue along racial lines. The problems affecting black boys are related to the problems seen among white boys from blue collar families. By narrowing the scope of the problem you narrow the likelihood of finding a solution. Previous campaigns targeting minorities end up comparing black boys to white boys, when in fact at least half their efforts should be dedicated to comparing black boys to black girls, ...

That's the title of a new book about what happens when gender ratios become out of balance. In this book, the author focuses on the overabundance of men in countries such as China. About the book: Lianyungang, a booming port city, has China's most extreme gender ratio for children under four: 163 boys for every 100 girls. These numbers don't seem terribly grim, but in ten years, the skewed sex ratio will pose a colossal challenge. By the time those children reach adulthood, their generation will have twenty-four million more men than women. The prognosis for China's neighbors is no ...

...who happen to look a lot like the lost boys of the United States: According to the 1971 census, they report, 68 per cent of 25- to 29-year-old university graduates were male. Ten years later, 54 per cent were male and by 1991, the number was down to 51 per cent. By 2001, only 42 per cent of university graduates were male. According to the Youth in Transition survey, 38.8 per cent of 19-year-old women had attended university by 2003, compared with only 25.7 per cent of 19-year-old men. This large sex divide has ramifications, write Frenette and ...

Urban charter schools for boys have gotten caught up in the general education wars, where the unions and their defenders belittle the accomplishments of charter schools. Here's Tim King defending the academic record at Urban Prep. Rather than paralleling our students' performance to children from all across Chicago, let's examine how Urban Prep students stack up against their peers: other African-American males in non-selective public high schools. The Black male high school drop-out rate in Chicago Public Schools (CPS) is almost 60 percent -- nearly double the attrition rate at Urban Prep. We credit our ability to keep significantly more ...

The symposium about the plight of black boys produced an interesting discussion, according to this EdWeek report. The common theme: focus on their social/emotional needs at young ages, rather than academic skills. "We want to consider ways to position this vulnerable population for educational success as early as possible in their lives," said Michael T. Nettles, a senior vice president of ETS, in opening the forum. To make that happen, said Oscar A. Barbarin III, a psychology professor at Tulane University, in New Orleans, "kindergarten and 1st grade have to be more like preschool" in addressing children's needs holistically. "You...

Stillwater wonders why boys lag behind: While boys continued to show strong levels of academic achievement, the study found male students were more likely to fail classes and were far more often identified for special intervention programs such as Targeted Services. "Perhaps what we are seeing is a gender 'motivational' gap as boys appear to be choosing not to demonstrate their talents and skills in the classroom," Balow said. Reasons for the disparity between the genders are not certain. Most researchers agree that there is no difference in intelligence between males and females, so they look instead to factors such ...

New book from Dan Abrams: Man Down: Proof Beyond a Reasonable Doubt That Women Are Better Cops, Drivers, Gamblers, Spies, World Leaders, Beer Tasters, Hedge Fund Managers, and Just About Everything Else. From the book PR: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, everyone is familiar with the tired clichés: women are bad drivers and are not good with money; only guys play video games and they give bad directions. Dan Abrams tackles the toughest case of his career in Man Down. Drawing on years of legal experience and research studies, Abrams explains step-by-step why women are better than men in ...

Interesting seminar on the issue. This problem is one reason I'm watching the Rocketship charters in California. Not only are they successful, but the population they target is mostly Latino....

How much of the salary gender gap is due to gender differences in negotiating? My guess: a lot....