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Why is it that boys are falling behind girls in critical academic ways, such as high school graduation rates? For example, 88.2 percent of high school females in Texas finished on time during the 2010-2011 school year. By contrast, 83.7 percent of Texas males completed high school in the traditional four years.

High school is not the only place where a graduation gap exists. The Dallas Morning News’ Holly Hacker reported last year that men are less likely than women to graduate from college in Texas.

The male/female achievement gap befuddles even education experts. Are the gaps in learning due to developmental differences between the genders? Or are they due mostly to cultural and social factors?

On Wednesday, I put some questions to Dr. Sandra Bond Chapman, the founder and chief director of the Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas at Dallas. Dr. Chapman and her colleagues study how the brain develops. They have used their research to pioneer strategies to help 14,000 students in Texas, Massachusetts and Arizona. They now are using those strategies to train teachers, principals and administrators in Texas and other states.

Her answers in this Q&A get into some interesting ways of looking at the education gender gap. More important, her center’s strategies point to ways to get past it.