Why Preschool Boys Are Falling Behind: Addressing Boys’ Brain Differences, Special Needs of African-American, Latino Boys
Groundbreaking Boys' Project Is Transforming Early Childhood Classrooms
(Cleveland, Ohio) Armed with strong evidence that boys are falling behind girls at an early age, the Boys’ Project of the early childhood organization Starting Point is transforming classrooms in Northeast Ohio from boy-averse to boy-friendly–changing the ways teachers teach and classrooms are organized. Their groundbreaking work has garnered national attention and is documented in a new book, Wired to Move: Facts and Strategies for Nurturing Boys in an Early Childhood Setting.
According to Starting Point Executive Director Billie
Osborne-Fears, “We created the Boys’ Project because too many
boys were falling behind in school; partly due to gender, race
and ethnic issues we believe can and should be addressed in early
childhood classrooms. The aim of the Project is to raise
awareness and understanding of how boys learn and behave in order
to start these boys on the path to new success in school and in
life.”
Starting Point statistics on children in Northeast Ohio early
childhood programs indicated 72 percent of the children with
social-emotional problems were boys; 59 percent of these boys
were African-American, up from 40 percent in the preceding
10-year period.
National statistics show even greater disparities between boys’
and girls’ performance and behavior. For example, the average boy
enters kindergarten a year to a year and a half behind girls in
language skills. That makes it hard for boys to keep pace with
girls in learning environments that use reading, writing,
speaking and listening skills to convey most of the information.
Other studies show that 80 percent of discipline problems and 80
percent of children on Ritalin are boys.
The Boys’ Project comprehensively addresses these problems, using
the latest research into the way boys’ brains work and cultural
issues specific to African-American and Latino boys. They found
many early childhood classrooms are more suited to the ways girls
learn–and boys’ brains are wired for some of the very things
teachers find frustrating. For example:
Boys are often expected to be quiet and follow instructions.
However, when they’re forced to sit and listen for extended
periods or if they’re not given enough time for physical play,
their learning and behavior suffers. This is especially true for
young boys.
Since boys are not as good at using their words as girls, they
become frustrated, act out–often physically–and their brains
shut down. When teachers don’t understand how boys’ brains work,
they often categorize them as behavior problems or think they
lack intelligence. The problem can be complicated by the fact
that most early childhood teachers are women, more attuned to the
way girls learn and behave.
The Boys’ Project has trained hundreds of preschool and universal
pre-kindergarten teachershelping them understand how boys’ brains
work and how to make simple changes in teaching methods and room
arrangements.
In evaluating the results, Starting Point found significant
improvement in the boys–and the girls. A better classroom
dynamic and less disruption were beneficial to everyone–the
boys, the girls and the teachers.
The new book Wired to Move, published by Gryphon House and
written by Ruth Hanford Morhard, examines and expands on their
work–offering teachers across the nation easy and effective ways
to help young boys perform at their best and create a foundation
for later learning.
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