Boys Club

Nationwide boys are twice as likely to be placed in special education according to a new Boston Globe analysis.

The more subjective the diagnosis of the student, the wider the gender gap, records show. In Massachusetts schools, boys are slightly more likely than girls to be identified with hearing or vision problems, and 11/2 times as likely to be retarded. But boys are twice as likely to be labeled with a learning disability, and more than three times as likely to be called emotionally disturbed.

Overall, 1.9 million girls and 3.8 million boys were classified as special education in 2000, according to numbers compiled by the US Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.