Educators look to shrink the achievement gap as boys struggle in the classroom

In American schools, boys are more likely to repeat kindergarten, be put in time out, receive detention, be suspended or be expelled. Meanwhile, girls are more likely to outpace boys in literary skills, take advanced courses and graduate on time.

The American Psychological Associations' Task Force on Boys in School is looking into the gender disparity between students.

Matt Englar-Carlson, a member of the task force and professor of counseling at California State University, said when it’s time to start elementary school, boys are less prepared for the school setting.

“We think about how we socialize boys, and in general, we don't really socialize them in the world of emotions,” Englar-Carlson said.

He said delaying kindergarten entry by one year is a potential solution for some students, but that there should be a wider approach to make sure teachers better understand how boys develop so they can deescalate some of the behavioral issues that arise. He said the task force is working to provide information that helps teachers understand what demands boys bring and how they can approach them differently in a school setting so they will be successful.

The long-term solution could be establishing more male mentors for boys in schools, and some higher education programs have targeted attracting and training male teachers. However, there is a resistance among many men to join helping professions, such as teaching or nursing, because they have been seen as feminine jobs, Englar-Carlson said.

“I used to be a school counselor myself, and there were not many men in school — in terms of men who worked as teachers or administrators — and honestly, there weren't that many dads who appear in the schools either, right? But as a school counselor, boys were the ones who appeared in my office the most,” he said. “And so I think that there's ways of thinking about, how do we kind of change some of that? And the reality is that the field of education and teacher ed has been trying to recruit more male teachers for a very long time.”

Englar-Carlson said progress in gender equality over the last 50 years has resulted in more opportunities and success for women and girls, but those changing gender expectations also created new paths for men and boys.

“A lot of boys and men also had opportunities provided as well to work in maybe less stereotypical gendered ways, which maybe they didn't take advantage of, right?” he said. “And so, I think what we have is that the context has kind of shifted in our society, but the adapting to it for a lot of boys and men actually hasn't happened.”

Lucius Pham

/

Iowa Public Radio

Kenny Gaskin, a fourth-grade teacher at Hillis Elementary in Des Moines, is one man who has embraced being in the gender minority of his profession.

As a kid, he was naturally interested in learning, which made school fun for him. In his junior year of high school, he decided he wanted to be an educator himself.

“I just wanted to help create an environment for those kids that I had and help them become good people and enjoy learning like I did,” Gaskin said.

He sees the gender gap in student performance. Girls can more easily regulate their emotions and be vulnerable, while boys tend to shut down and be afraid to show emotions when they're going through something, he said.

Gaskin, who is a Black man, never had a Black male teacher when he was a student, and said he had few teachers of color or male teachers at all.

Boys of color are less likely than their white and female peers to have a teacher who looks like them. Though 26% of U.S. students are boys of color, only 6% of teachers are men of color, according to the American Institute for Boys and Men.

The gap in school disciplinary measures is particularly pronounced for Black boys, but feeling represented can help shrink the achievement gaps.

“It's inspiring or motivating to know that just being there and trying your best and continuously improving has the ability to impact students in so many different ways,” Gaskin said. “But at the same time, it's more than just showing up. It's a lot of work that that goes into teaching and the social aspect, the educational aspects, connecting with families, just everything that educators have to do.”

Women are also more likely than men to complete four-year college programs. In 2024, 47% of women age 25 to 34 had a bachelor's degree, compared to 37% of men, according to Pew Research.

Daniel Jean, associate provost for educational opportunity and success programs at Montclair State University, said as a young person, college was not on the horizon for him.

“I graduated high school with a 1.9 GPA,” Jean said. “My family was homeless ... lost my father when I was 13 years old ... had teachers tell me that I wouldn't live to see 25.”

His lifeline was the Educational Opportunity Fund program in New Jersey, which provides financial assistance and academic support to educationally and economically disadvantaged students. The program and mentorship he received motivated him to earn his undergraduate degree and go on to earn his master's and doctorate degrees.

Now, Jean is working to help the next generation achieve their personal and professional goals through programs at Montclair State University. In 2011, he founded the Boys to Men Conference, which brings 1,000 prospective male students from local high schools onto campus for panels and presentations on college awareness and how to finance their education. Jean said this supports recruitment efforts for the university and shows boys the value of higher education.

Once enrolled, male students are more likely to drop out or take longer to graduate than female undergraduates. To support students in academic jeopardy, Montclair requires students with less than a 2.0 GPA to take a course focused on getting them back on track.

“I literally volunteer to speak to those classes, each semester, each section, to reinforce the idea of the potential that these scholars have, that they were brought to our university for a reason, and then have them all literally in the classroom, map out specific strategies as to how they plan to graduate and what their plans are beyond graduation.”

Jean said he grew up in an “anti-intellectual” environment, and that some male students feel like it isn’t cool to be smart or worth it to try in school.

“I think part of the issue is this hyper masculinity framework that a lot of us subscribe to,” Jean said. “I think the idea of what a man is, is very tainted in our communities, and folks have a hard time identifying or connecting to these educational outcomes.”

To hear this conversation listen to Unsettled, hosted by Charity Nebbe. Samantha McIntosh produced this episode.