The Lost Boys: An Exploration Of The Male Gender Gap And Its Causes
Abstract
The male gender gap refers to a discrepancy between achievement and investment levels of male and female students. Demonstrated through a variety of metrics such as graduation rates, grade point average, enrollment in Advanced Placement courses, special education identification, and behavioral intervention, male students demonstrate lower levels of academic success than female students. Factors influencing this gap appear to include social factors such as male disinclination to orient peer relationships around academic topics, internal factors such as lower measured time spent on study or homework in males, and different academic expectations for males and females from their teachers. This project uses a podcast format to discuss the existence of this gender gap with three teachers from a range of content and grade level backgrounds. The goal of the project is to increase awareness of the gender gap and the role that teachers can play in reducing it. All episodes of the project’s podcast are available on a website created for purposes of housing these episodes.