In the past, many resources on equity posted on the LSC-Net have focused on closing the gender gap for girls. More recently, attention has turned to examining a gender gap where boys appear to be disadvantaged, particularly in Latino and Black communities.
"At high school graduation ceremonies across the country, a curious gender gap has emerged -- more women graduate than men, particularly in Latino and Black communities... Drawing on 5 months of participant observation in a New York City public high school that is 90% Latino, mostly second-generation Dominicans, I found that both formal and informal institutional practices within schools, "race" and "gender" students in ways that significantly affect their outlooks on education. Young men are viewed as threatening and potential problem students, whereas young women are treated in a more sympathetic fashion. If our goal is to improve the education attainment of all students, we must become aware of the invisible race(ing) and gender(ing) that takes place in the classroom, as well as in the everyday institutional practices of schools."
