ABSTRACT
In 2001, five U.S. independent schools came together to create a new consortium, the Center for the Study of Boys’ Lives (CSBL), in collaboration with the University of Pennsylvania’s Graduate School of Education. A sixth school was added in 2005. Two of the member schools were day schools for boys, one a boys’ day school in a coordinate relationship with a contiguous girls’ school, one a coed day school that converted from a girls’ school in the 1970s, and two that are top-tier boarding schools that became coeducational in the 1970s and 1980s after long careers as boys’ schools. Each of the schools, in short, had a considerable track record dedicated to boys’ education and reasonable claim, on that basis, to success and expertise in that work. Yet, their support for the new center reflected their desire to put a finer point on that expertise. The mission of the center was “… to conduct research, encourage public discussion, and advocate on behalf of boys. Using research tools that give voice to boys’ lived experiences, the center will strive to promote the widest sense of possibility and greatest hope for integrity in boys’ lives …” (www.csbl. org).1
