"Top-performing boys score higher in math than the best-performing girls in all but two of the 63 countries in which the tests were given, including the United States."

"Test scores in science follow a similar, if somewhat less lopsided, pattern.... But... [t]he most perilous statistic in the O.E.C.D.�s report is about the dismal performance of less educated boys, who are falling far behind girls."

Six out of 10 underachievers in the O.E.C.D. � who fail to meet the baseline standard of proficiency across the tests in math, reading and science � are boys. That includes 15 percent of American boys, compared with only 9 percent of girls. More boys than girls underperform in every country tested except Luxembourg and Liechtenstein.

Across the board, girls tend to score higher than boys in reading, which the O.E.C.D. considers the most important skill, essential for future learning.

At the bottom, the gap is enormous: The worst-performing American girls � who did worse in reading tests than 94 out of every 100 of their peers � scored 49 points more than bottom-ranked boys, a 15 percent gap. And the deficit across the O.E.C.D. was even bigger.