The main areas of the framework to be examined included establishing a Read Aloud book collection; shaping the Mentor selection process; developing training modules and materials; documenting effects of the Male Mentor pilot; investigating an appropriate time period for the Mentor sessions with the students; and analyzing mentor and student responses to the Read Aloud books used.

However, the purpose was not to make either boys or girls into versions of each other, whether gender is socially constructed or is innate was not our question - although an examination of masculinities in school along with building a framework of literacy concepts is helpful.

The next section of this chapter explores literacy achievement; gender markers; role models; definitions of mentors; and literacy as a social practice. This is followed by a description of how the male mentor reading program was implemented, a discussion of their practice and response to the read aloud books, and their effect on the children's literacy learning.

Literacy Achievement
Boys' literacy achievement is problematized. Large scale studies such as the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) focused on the reading literacy domain in 2000. PISA (OECD, 2001) included a large Canadian sample in order to provide results nationally and provincially. PISA focused on the literacy skills needed for life, rather than mastery of the school curriculum.