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actions between males and females? Is it really just because boys behave worse than girls or is the truth really that boys and girls are different in many ways? Concern comes in many forms. If we are to be accountable for children from the time they walk through the school doors at the age of 4 or 5 and guide them to successful completion of high school in the next 12 years, then we must look at the big picture with particular attention paid to why the gender gap has changed its direction in favor of girls with boys falling further behind each year. I believe this change is due to the disparity in discipline referrals at the elementary level where due to disciplinary actions resulting in removal from the classroom our boys are spending precious time away from the classroom setting and overall learning to dislike school. Early support and intervention needs to begin from the time children enter school, we are all responsible for their success no matter their external circumstances.

For innumerable boys, the trouble begins when they stroll through the kindergarten doors. With them they bring intellectual and physical aptitudes which are distinctly dissimilar to the girls of their age. We have been sensitive to the differences in the way girls and boys mature but, we should be considering this much earlier than pre-teen years. Entering the kindergarten milieu, girls are more linguistically assured than most of their male peers and, in general, have a better developed vocabulary. On the other side of the spectrum are the boys who have better developed hand-eye dexterity but, even though their gross-motor skills emerge as better developed, they often struggle with fine-motor adeptness and speech, which makes learning reading and writing a more complicated undertaking. Additionally, the boys tend to be extremely active. (Tyre, 2005) David P. Driscoll, the Massachusetts Education Commissioner, says, "In the classroom, boys are more prone to disrupt lessons if they struggle with learning, while girls turn more inward and simply tune out the teacher." Mr. Driscoll also has observed, "More boys get referred for special education because they tend to act out. And it's an overidentification, because very often they don't necessarily have a disability at all. It's just because they're active." (Vaishnav 2002) Often times, we are now discovering over activity of boys in the classroom being branded as a discipline or special needs problem versus a curriculum or delivery problem.

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