ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an analysis of the gender achievement gap in Ontario and Canada, as an illustrative case of misrecognition in eliding systemic inequalities related to the effects of social class and racial differences in the education system. The particular polemics about failing boys need to be understood in relation to the imperatives of globalization, the governance turn, and the neoliberal education policy regime that has come to define the nature of policy making within the field of education. The chapter focuses on policy sociology and substantive theoretical and empirical literature to undertake an analysis of the Programme for International Student Assessment's (PISA's) focus on equity of failing boys within the Canadian context. The critiques offered in the chapter suggests a cautionary note for education policy makers in respect of relying too heavily on PISA measures as a basis for decision-making regarding questions of equity as they relate to misdistribution.
