The McCallie School is helping to establish a center to coordinate and advance research and best practices on the development and learning of boys. “The National Center for the Development of Boys,” an institute separate from McCallie yet to be housed on its campus, will equip educators, parents, youth leaders, mentors and others in their work with boys.
The center — which will focus on the development of boys from early childhood through early adulthood — will share its research, programs, resources, conferences and ideas with the broader public, and it will aim to do so for free or very little cost to the public.
“Boys and young men in our country are disengaging from school and underperforming in both school and society at large,” McCallie Headmaster Lee Burns said. “The educational trends of boys and its impact on the world is quite troubling. We as a country need to find ways to bring out the best in boys — academically, socially, emotionally, spiritually and physically. It is our belief that this center can be a hub of important research, conversations and practical strategies about how to help boys and young men.”
McCallie’s administration and trustees have been discussing and researching the idea for several months as a way to share the school’s 110 years of experience and expertise in understanding, educating and inspiring boys.
“We know boys well — as well as any institution in America,” Mr. Burns said. “We feel we have an opportunity — and obligation really — to share what we know and to help coordinate research and programs that can benefit people in Chattanooga and beyond.
“Establishing the center is an additional way we as an independent school can have a public purpose. We want to help serve the broader community beyond our 925 students.”
Significant startup and sustaining funding has already been secured for the center, which will be led by its own board of trustees. A national search is beginning for an executive director, with that person expected to be named by late summer. The center also will engage the services of educators, researchers, authors and other leaders who have experience and expertise in how to best motivate and educate boys and young men.
“This winter, McCallie hosted a basic seminar on understanding boys, and about 250 people showed up on a Sunday afternoon to learn more. Parents and teachers drove in from out of town for this event,” McCallie Assistant Headmaster Kenny Sholl said. “The plight of boys and the challenge of raising and developing them into responsible men of character is a nationwide concern, and many are desperate to improve how this is addressed.”
The center’s work will include reviewing and curating past and current research on boys, as well as undertaking its own research, which can be augmented by a living laboratory of 925 boys at McCallie and the faculty who teach and mentor them. The center will publish articles and reports and produce videos about boys, as well as offer seminars, workshops and conferences for the public.
Topics of study may include brain development in boys and its implications for learning; effective teaching methods and curriculum for boys; effective parenting of boys at different ages; the role of boys and men in families and in society; the portrayal of boys and men in culture; and the journey from boyhood to manhood.
“The center’s work will be wide-ranging and research-based, yet it will have as a goal to give parents, educators and youth leaders some very practical strategies and ideas they can implement in their work with boys and young men,” Mr. Burns said.
More news on the National Center for the Development of Boys will be available in the coming weeks and months at the center’s website understandingboys.org.