According to the Rocky Mountain News, some educators in the Denver area – at least at one elementary school – are starting to adjust the school day to help boys:

A not-so-quiet revolution is taking place in reading and writing instruction inside some classrooms at Hackberry Hill Elementary School in Arvada.

Students are encouraged to get up and move, stretch and talk about their work every 20 minutes or so. Brain breaks, Principal Warren Blair calls them.

In some cases, boys are also allowed to write about things that might have previously been frowned upon — bodily functions come to mind, or anything with a good gross-out factor.

It’s part of the school’s attempts to address a global phenomenon, reinforced by recently released Colorado Student Assessment Program test results, showing boys consistently scoring lower than girls in reading and writing.

Hey, I like this idea of a brain break. Sometimes you have to be creative to find ways to address the needs of different students. But I was left wondering what Hackberry Hill parents think of the idea. It would be interesting to see what moms and dads think. After all, they know their kids best.

In writing about the “Boy Crisis in Education”, Krista Kafer makes a similar point:

“There is no one best method of teaching children.” “For some children, single sex classrooms will yield the best results, while a different environment will be most suitable for others. Parents are best positioned to know what’s best for their child and policymakers should focus on making it easier for parents to choose a school for their child,” said Kafer.

More options for parents, more school choice, is a big part of the answer to the “boy crisis”. And who knows? “Brain breaks” might be, as well. Just let the families decide.