Research efforts to examine the literacy gap between boys and girls under the age of sixteen continue to search for answers to the question 'why do boys underachieve in reading literacy, compared to girls?' Large studies like IALS (Kirsch, Jones, Murray & Tujniman, 1995) and PISA (OECD, 2001) provide rich data revealing many factors along with gender to account for achievement. The Boys' and Girls' Literacy: Closing the Gap study examines gender, males, mentors, book choices, and critical engagement as ways to promote development in literacy achievement of all children, while particularly noting factors that may advantage or disadvantage boys learning.
Mentoring is a strategy for promoting whole class literacy. The purpose of this strategy was to improve boy's literacy achievement, yet not at the expense of girls. In this project, the male mentor reading program began with a pilot project in 2001; continued in the research school in 2002, 2003; and is ongoing in 2004. In 2003-2004, the program was also extended beyond the research school (an elementary school) to include one middle school. This is a popular program which has given the research project visibility and has engendered good will between the university researchers and the local schools.
The overarching goal of the larger project, Boys' and Girls' Literacy: Closing the Gap, is to address the literacy performance of boys. In order to address this goal, the researchers examine the reading preferences of boys and girls through their critical response to a variety of literature genres and investigate the effects of Male Mentor Reading Program on boys.