The data is stark: as early as kindergarten, Virginia boys don’t reach benchmarks at the same rate as girls, and by 4th grade, a 13.5-point gap in reading has been documented.

“By 5th grade boys are already starting to show a disinterest,” Virginia Del. Josh Thomas said. “Our boys are 1.5 times more likely to drop out and never complete high school due to lack of interest, which is kind of a new trend that we haven’t seen before.”

Thomas chairs the newly formed Virginia Boys and Men Advisory Commission, which held its first meeting Monday. The data was supplied by the American Institute for Boys and Men in a presentation to the commission July 20.

“I think one of the solutions that we heard about on Monday that has garnered a lot of interest and is certainly of interest to me, is getting more men in the classroom,” Thomas said. “It’s kind of hard to see where you can be in the world if you don’t see yourself there.”

But the solution won’t end with recruitment, Thomas said.

“Our retention is not great either. Even once we get them in the classroom, men are much more likely to leave the classroom in the first four years,” he said.

Thomas said he’s calling for “a permanent shift in how Virginia is going to address staffing and educational posts throughout our public education system.”

One of the bright sides in the effort, Thomas said, is the bipartisan interest in providing better outcomes for Virginia’s boys and men.

“I can pick up the phone and call my colleagues in the Virginia Statehouse and within two minutes they said, ‘We’re in!'” Thomas said.

The next meeting of the commission is slated for Aug. 25. The first report from the body is due in October.