Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Why Girls Tend to Get Better Grades Than Boys Do

Re-do policies, depending upon how they are implemented in practice, may provide a sense of legitimacy to essentially falsifying student level of performance.

Regarding do-over policy or practice, parents may wish to know:
1) How is grading assigned?
- For example, does the redo grade replace the original grade?
- Is the assigned grade an average of the original work and the rework?
2) Who has access to the redo opportunity?
- Everyone who wishes to repeat the exercise?
- Only select individuals?
--- Is selection determined by a consistent set of criteria, such as a cut score? If so, what is the cut score?
--- Do any other selection criteria apply?
3) Is the policy clearly documented? Is it selectively implemented on the fly?

Does the student who was originally failing (or below a specific threshold) ultimately receive a grade of 100% based on a redo, while a student who originally scored 96% is denied a redo and retains the grade of 96% entered into the gradebook?

I've heard of policies like this used to considerably raise the GPA of marginal performers. By the end of high school selective access to redo opportunities which offer grade replacement may push selected students to the upper reaches of class rank while the GPA of consistent high performers may be comparatively lower. Colleges and universities may get an inaccurate picture of students' level of performance.

^ YES, indeed.

This is precisely what my DD often experienced as a secondary student. If she'd been scoring 50% all the time, an A was still within reach because of re-do policies.



However, the fact that most of the time, she was scoring 95%-100%, with a few oddball off days at 75%-80%, she often had to WORRY about her grades, and seldom got second chances at anything.

So fundamentally, an A+ was NOT within reach of most A students-- unless they happen to be of the "always on" variety.

All of HER assessments were summative.


For her struggling classmates, many of them were formative.

NOT cool to mix those two systems IMHO.

I didn't see any mention in the article of the fact that generally speaking girls are people pleasers. Overall girls do what is expected of them. Boys don't. Some have said it's due to historical differences in the way the sexes were treated/expected to do. Others say it's because of wiring.

I thought to mention it as it plays a big role in identifying gifted kids - boys in particular.

See Madoosa I would argue that it makes boys more likely to be IDed - because they stick out like sore thumbs while girls apply their intellect to blending in (speaking in gross generalizations). Might also make them more likely to get labelled ADHD...

If I recall correctly - the rate of misdiagnosis of gifted boys is about 70% - largely as ADD/ADHD.

The misdiagnosis, imo, is due to outward (often regarded as negative) behavior displayed by boys. Girls, as a rule, tend to internalize things, including being socially/emotionally aware of others.

Generally speaking, girls don't tend to draw attention on them to stand out like a sore thumb. IF girls get unwarranted attention, they risk being isolated and/or being labelled - social, emotional, and/or physical consequences are too much and not worth the risk for many girls. Some girls if they've got ADD/ADHD or are on the spectrum may lack this social awareness or connections to risk taking behavior, but they're the exception, imo.

Some boys (who then become Steve Jobs types) are not so internally motivated (or perhaps neurologically wired) to curtail their behavior, which others may deem as outrageous and socially unacceptable. Though that doesn't mean they're not sensitive or care what others think. And, no, Jobs was never diagnosed with ADD/ADHD but he was definitely off the wall and an out of the box type.

We have this problem. Convincing my son to as I often put it "dot all his i's and cross all his t's". I also found out this summer that my son has low processing speed issues. This makes completing work during class a bit of a challenge, particularly when it's work he considers boring.

My son is just not intrinsically motivated and I don't really have very many good ways too motivate him. Even though I try not to I am always comparing him with a friends two girls, the first whom is very similar to him but super compliant.

What is frustrating is in my school how much homework/classwork means depends on the level of class. Homework/seatwork is less important in the honors/AP classes, and mean more in the "regular" classes. So dropping my son into all non honors classes isn't necessary going to help his grade at all, since he tests very well but he doesn't turn in (even if he has done it) 100% of the homework/classwork.