Colorado schools closing the gender gap

BOULDER – Over the years, statistics show girls have surpassed boys in school. They are scoring better on standardized tests, achieving more academic honors, and receiving better grades. Educators call this a gender gap.

The Gurian Institute in Colorado Springs started examining why this is happening. Researchers found that boys’ brains work differently than girls’ brains, so they must be addressed differently in the classroom.

“It’s about rethinking education,” said Kelley King, principal at Douglass Elementary in Boulder. “Girls have more brain areas, more cortical areas devoted to verbal thinking. Boys have more cortical areas devoted to spatial thinking.”

The result, she says, is that boys have a tougher time retaining information while sitting down and listening to a teacher; while girls are wired to fit better into schools.

“Neurologically, they are set up to tolerate that better,” King said.

King, who trained at the Gurian Institute, is now working with her teachers and educators across the country about how to close the gender gap.

“This is about teachers having increased knowledge about how the brain works,” King said. “I think attention to gender differences absolutely needs to be a part of the conversation at every school.”

“Sometimes, when we’re doing tests, I get really ancy,” said Raphael Preston.

The 4th grader at Douglass knows how hard it is to sit and learn. He says he feels like he has a lot of extra energy.

“I can’t really concentrate on the subject,” he said.

King and teachers like Anne Gibson have found ways to harness the extra energy of boys and turn it into a learning experience.

“Not just for boys, but for all kids - they like to be active,” said Gibson, a 3rd grade teacher. “It’s very unnatural for them to be sitting at desks for 40, 50 minutes at a time.”

For example, Gibson’s 3rd graders learn their spelling words by drawing them in shaving cream or tracing them on each others backs. Students will draw outlines around the shapes of the words or create a crossword puzzle.

“What I was trying to do is to get kids to look at their spelling words in a different way,” Gibson said.

Teachers are trying to find more active and engaging activities to teach lessons in every subject. They believe physical stimulation leads to mental stimulation in boys – and girls. It could range from physical activities like in Gibson’s class to just getting up and switching seats during a lecture. Many teachers are creating stations so students can rotate around the room engaging in different exercises for both the brain and the body.

“I thought it was kind of crazy at first,” said Monte Preston, Raphael’s father. “In the past the method was, ‘Well, let’s cap this energy.’”

Now, Monte says his son’s experience at school has changed tremendously.

“Now that it’s been implemented, we’ve seen results from it, it’s fantastic,” Monte said.

“I noticed with Raphael, if he can move around, even at the dinner table, then he can sit and focus,” said Claudia Preston, Raphael’s mother. “What I see, he’s more relaxed and he likes school.”

“I used to complain about school, like, ‘Oh, I don’t want homework, I can’t concentrate,’” Raphael said. “(I) can focus (now) and (I) don’t get an F-minus on the test.”

Raphael is not alone. Before the changes, Douglass Elementary had a big difference with girls scoring 10 points higher on average than boys in reading and writing tests. In one year of doing these new techniques, that 10 point difference was wiped out.

“Our boys made six times the achievement gains of boys in the school district,” King said.

She points out that girls improved as well, but that boys just finally caught up with their counterparts.

King wants to see these positive test results maintained for another year before confirming that the difference is truly a result of changing the teaching techniques to cater more to boys. Still, she is sharing her findings across the nation and hopes all teachers will look at the differences between boys and girls.

“That’s what will keep our kids, in a few years, from making a decision to drop out,” said King.