There’s lots to discuss here. Check this quote: “The gender reading gap is not a priority for the California Department of Education.”
75% of black California boys don’t meet state reading standards
Across ethnicities and economic status, girls outperform boys on English in standardized tests Three of four African-American boys in California classrooms failed to meet reading and writing standards on the most recent round of testing, according to data obtained from the state Department of Education and analyzed by CALmatters.
- Three of four African-American boys in California classrooms failed to meet reading and writing standards on state exams
- More than half of black boys scored in the lowest category, “below basic.”
- Boys of all ethnicities and incomes did considerably worse than girls in reading and writing.
- The gender gap is widest between black boys and black girls.
In states that administer the same standardized exam as California, girls outscore boys by similar margins. In international reading comprehension exams, girls best boys in nearly every country and at nearly every age.
More:
Several studies have shown that boys increasingly see school as a female pursuit and that various cultural cues depict reading and writing as feminine activity.
But the consistency of the gender gap internationally and over time casts doubt on that explanation. In cultures as varied as Finland’s and Japan’s, girls still score better on standardized tests.
Finally, many point to how schools are structured-a lack of sufficient recess to allow high-energy boys to blow off steam, reading materials unrelated to male interests and a predominantly female teaching workforce.
. . . again the gap persists in foreign education systems, many of which are radically different from ours.