Girls School Boys in City's Gifted Programs

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Though girls have been surpassing boys in higher education for years, they're beginning to become overrepresented in elementary school classrooms. Currently, about 49% of the city's kindergartners are girls, but they represent 56% of the kindergarten "gifted" classes. Conversely, a 2002 study said boys are "overrepresented in programs for learning disabilities, mental retardation and emotional disturbance, and slightly underrepresented in gifted programs." “It’s kind of weird and stuff," said one boy in the New Explorations in Science and Technology and Math school for gifted children, remarking on his minority status.

So what's with the gender gap? Two tests were mandated for gifted admission in 2008: The Bracken Assessment and the Otis-Lennon Ability Test. The Otis-Lennon accounts for 75% of the assessment, and focuses on things like verbal comprehension and reasoning for third grade testing upwards. Girls tend to be more verbal at a younger age, and experts say the tests favor girls, who also tend to be mature enough to sit through an hour long test.

Before the tests were mandated, each school was able to determine independently which students were eligible, which often led to more gender balanced classrooms. DOE spokesman David Cantor told the Times they don't record the genders of those students admitted, but, "A good test for giftedness should be able to control for differences in what children have been exposed to, and for the early verbal development we see more often in girls."

Though the DOE website says the gifted programs' "regular curriculum is modified or changed to meet students' needs," many of the programs are not modified to the strengths of young boys, who tend to learn better through spacial activities. Gifted program researcher Terry W. Neu said, "Sitting still, that’s where a lot of our gifted guys get into trouble. If they are not moving, they are thinking about moving."

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By Jaya Saxena in News on June 1, 2010 1:59 PM

Comments [rss]

akuryo

How is this at all related to women's lib or supposed male discrimination? (boo-hoo Gen Y the privilege of old which you were entitled to is gone and you have to suffer with the rest of us schlubs - now grow up) This is about the test construction of one of two tests for the gifted which is heavily based towards verbal skills and which unintentionally is biased towards people who can sit still to take the test. What this means is they need to make a better test. However regardless of how balanced they may make a test any teacher will tell you the ability to sit still and focus on the lesson is important in a classroom setting. Take your personal issues somewhere else.

ANGRYGOD11

Much better writers have pointed out the dominance of women in college and grad school is leaving a lot of women without suitable boyfriends nor husbands.

That's victory for whom?

matty

Thanks to the women's lib movement we have a schooling culture that caters to women and not young men. Young men need discipline and competition in their academic lives (unless they're artists or whatever) two things that have been eliminated from the public school systems in this country.

My kids are going to Catholic schools. And no, I doubt they'll be molested.

nicemarmot

Don't worry, the boys will catch up when they are capable of sitting still. I love how upset guys get over stupid shit like this when women still bang their skulls on the glass ceiling constantly.

MollzieD

I have a hard time sympathizing here.... .... and that's why patriarchy sucks and males still have male privilege and people need to stop freaking out that the status quo has been disrupted because, sh!t, can women and girls actually be BETTER than boys and men at something please? Thank you.

matty

Uh, you're wrong. Men in my generation (y) are actively discriminated against. The old boys club of yore is gone at the expense of young men in school today.

BDS=(Boycott.Divest.Sanction)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ov-g59wMivc&feature=PlayList&p=FE52E2643A5DB4C7&playnext_from=PL&playnext=1&index=1

Petey

Here's a shocking revelation. percentages of the population do not always coincide with percentages of certain groups.

Or the city can just do what they do with everything else, set quotas, and even though the girl may be smarter, there's already a certain percentage, so they'll put a less smart boy in the class to meet their percentages, or a less learning disabled girl in the special ed, because they've already filled their boy quota.

matty

Exactly. How nauseating.

Young men in this country are being left out because of the quota systems. I guess that's just how things are going to be from now on.

ddhboy

This is new? Back when I was in the gifted program in the 90s, there were slightly more girls than there was boys in elementary school. Flash forward to Junior High and High School, and women quickly overtake men in specialty programs.

icedespresso

No, not new. It further explains why it is impossible to date smart men, though. They're apparently a pretty hot commodity.

JenChungsBaby

As the Times story says, the boys catch up and even surpass the girls eventually:

The imbalance stands in contrast with the gender makeup of the eight high schools, including Stuyvesant High School, the Bronx High School of Science and Brooklyn Technical High School, that use the Specialized High Schools Admissions Test to select students. All have more boys than girls, in keeping with research that shows that boys tend to catch up with girls, especially in mathematics, through middle school and, at the high end of the achievement spectrum, surpass them.

So unless you're dating 8th graders it shouldn't be an issue.