Boys graduate high school at lower rates than girls, with lifelong consequences

BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) — They attend the same classes with access to the same programs, and even come from the same families. But girls consistently are outperforming boys, graduating at higher rates at public high schools around the country.

The gap between them is wide, often as wide as the achievement gap between students from affluent and low-income families, a problem that officials have tracked closely for years. But the reasons why boys are falling short are not as clear.

Interviews with students, educators and researchers point to several factors. Men generally can earn the same wages as women with less education. But boys also are more likely to face suspensions or other discipline knocking them off track, and they don’t pursue help as often when they face mental health challenges.

The U.S. government doesn’t require states to report graduation data by gender the way they must break it out by racial and ethnic groups and for children with disabilities, English language learners and homeless students. But in every state reporting high school graduation rates by gender, research shows female students graduate at higher rates.

More than 45,000 fewer boys than girls graduated high school in 2018, according to an estimate by researcher Richard Reeves based on data available from 37 reporting states.

That year, about 88% of girls graduated on time compared with 82% of boys, according to Reeves, who this year left the Brookings Institution to launch the American Institute for Boys and Men. The gap was still 6 percentage points in 2021, according to a follow-up analysis this year.

https://apnews.com/article/high-school-graduation-rate-boys-c7b8dff33221e0ded2d1369397d96455