Boys who are struggling with reading respond better to female teachers, according to a new Canadian study. Research shows that boys develop higher positive self-perceptions as readers when they work with female rather than male research assistants. "From this we can conclude that the drop in the number of male teachers, especially in elementary schools, is not the reason why boys are underachieving in reading," says University of Alberta professor Herb Katz. "Therefore, the strategic hiring of male teachers as a way to address boys' poor reading scores may be naive."