Boys and Reading: Part 2.5

If you haven’t been following along, here’s a quick recap of our ongoing series of indeterminate length and intellectual rigor on the boys and reading issue, here’s what you’ve missed:

In Part 1, I discussed the following:

The Center for Education Policy issued a report that shows that boys consistently lag behind girls in reading as measured by standardized tests.
An AP story says that fart books may be the solution to this problem.
A Wall Street Journal editorial takes issue with that solution

In Part 2, I responded with limited to success to a comment to Part 1 and delved a little deeper into the Center of Education Policy report that kicked this all off. I also offered some “context” for framing the problem. I’m calling this Part 2.5 because I’ve stumbled across some additional context to throw out there for your consideration.

First, I came across this chart in a CDC report, Diagnosed Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Learning Disability: United States, 2004–2006. I’m not saying that ADHD is responsible for the reading gap between school-age boys and girls, but it is a striking parallel and I hope that it’s at least part of the conversation somewhere.

Secondly, I came across this graphic from data compiled by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (via Flowing Data – my favorite source for data geekery):

This graphic begs the question: if the US is currently only a mid-performing country in reading (as of 2003), is the boys/girls reading gap issue missing the forest for the trees?

Stay tuned for Part 3.

Books | Tim | November 2, 2010 8:45 am

2 Comments

By Dr J, November 2, 2010 @ 11:07 am

Look at you with your cute little practice of bringing data to a discussion ruled by emotions. That is so quaint! I remember when we used to do that in the 20th century.