[EDEQUITY] Report: Title IX at 30

From: Stephanie Barlow (Sabwestvir@aol.com)
Date: Mon Jul 08 2002 - 08:52:31 EDT


Hello:

I finally had a chance to read the report, "Title IX at 30, a Report Card
on
Gender Equity" prepared by the NCWGE. Unfortunately, I believe this report

tends to serve as ammunition for those who believe that gender equity in
general, and Title IX in particular, is a zero sum game.

The most interesting aspect is that this report is inconsistent with
respect
to the discussion of academic achievement. For example, the report
dismisses
concerns over male academic achievement by stating that grades are not a
reliable measure of success:

"Although girls receive higher grades, many (including girls themselves)
believe that this is more a result of pleasing teachers through conforming
and compliant classroom behavior..." (Page 33). The report then focuses on

standardized test to illustrate that girls academic achievement trails
boys.

However, when it is time for college, grades become a perfectly accurate
measure of achievement and standardized tests should not be counted:

"Females' lower scores illustrate the serious shortcomings of university
admissions exams: While in general young women earn higher grades than
young
men in both high school and college..., females trail on the SAT and ACT.
Such discrepancies challenge test-maker claims that their products are good

predictors of academic success in college." (Page 47)

No valid explanation has been given for the radically different view of
grades in the same report.

The data on K-12 testing is also misleading. The statement is made
"Many...
state assessments show large gaps between males and females of different
races, with white and Asian male students meeting graduation testing
requirements at much higher rates than Latino, African American and Native
American female students." (Page 45).

However, the report conveniently fails to mention that for students of
color,
female students meet graduation requirements at a substantially higher rate

than male students.

The report does present information related to the failure of schools to
take
incidents of sexual harassment seriously, but fails to discuss this
finding:

"The highest percentage of boys said the people they told either laughed or

thought it was a joke (21 percent), whereas the highest percentage of girls

said they were told to report the incident (23 percent)." (Page 44)

It is also significant to note that this report specifically leaves out
areas
where female students excel. For example, the report does not discuss the
gender gap in language arts achievement, the gap in non-athletic
extracurricular activities, the life expectancy gap, the suicide gap, or
the
incarceration gap. Of more immediate concern, the report does not discuss
the crisis in elementary education. Few, if any, public elementary schools

ensure that the gender distribution of teachers matches the gender
distribution of the student body.

I would have hoped that a report would be prepared that honestly addressed
the success and challenges of Title IX. Unfortunately - and this is my
opinion - this report falls more into the Christina Hoff Sommers category
of
scholarship.

Sincerely,
Stephanie Barlow
<sabwestvir@aol.com>



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