From Director Eva Dwight:   Early on in my work as a junior high counselor, I noticed that boys were predominantly the students I saw for either academic failure or discipline problems. I knew we weren’t meeting their learning needs, and we needed to be doing something different in classrooms, but I didn’t know WHAT, and I didn’t know WHY.

Then I discovered Dr. Michael Gurian’s book Boys and Girls Learn Differently, which explains how the structural and chemical differences between boys’ and girls’ brains impact their learning needs, social interaction patterns, and emotional processing.

Dr. Gurian’s research also indicates that the level of boys’ failure at my school was not unique. Across the United States:

*boys receive two-thirds of the D’s and F’s in our schools but less than 40% of the A’s

*boys are twice as likely as girls to be labeled “emotionally disturbed” and twice as likely to be diagnosed with a behavioral or learning disorder

*boys are four times as likely as girls to be suspended or expelled from early childhood and K-12 learning environments

*boys are behind girls in most developmental, behavioral, academic, and social markers in all industrialized countries

I’d like to encourage you to look at your own school’s performance data. If you’re seeing this same pattern of underperformance for your boys, it is imperative that your teachers receive training in how to change that trajectory.

The Gurian Winter Institute is a great place to do that. Sending teachers and counselors to this weekend learning experience will give them crucial information to take back to their fellow faculty members. With this training, they can start making the shift toward classroom management and teaching strategies that better meet boys’ needs.

Along with that, the Gurian Institute’s research has shown that modifying educational practices to better meet the needs of boys also results in girls strengthening their learning and processing skills. Schools that implement Gurian programs see increased levels of engagement, higher achievement, and decreased problems for all students, not just boys.

Early Bird Registration for the Winter Institute ends December 1^st. All participants will earn 14 hours of Professional Development.

For more information and to register, go to

https://gurianinstitute.com/events/gurian-winter-institute-2020/

If I can answer questions you might have about the Winter Institute, or about ongoing support and professional development for your staff, please let me know. I’m here to be of service to you as we work together on behalf of children.

Eva Dwight, BA, MEd, ACC, CPDT

Gurian Institute Program Director

480.363.7686