Maintaining that much of the prevailing public discussion and media "hype" surrounding gender issues in education amount to little more than anecdotal rhetoric and opinion, this paper examines evidence for sex differences in the experiences and outcomes of schooling from recent and emerging teacher and school effectiveness research. The paper focuses on five areas: (1) the differential schooling performances and experiences of boys and girls throughout their primary and secondary schooling in terms of academic outcomes, attitudes, and behaviors; (2) key reasons for these differences and their implications for policy and practice; (3) identification of the major sources of variation in students' achievement; (4) barriers to reform; and (5) suggested strategies for supporting the learning needs of boys. Research cited suggests that on average, boys' literacy skills, general academic achievements, attitudes, behaviors, and experiences of schooling are significantly poorer than those of girls. However, the paper argues, these differential gender effects pale into relative insignificance compared with class or teacher effects. The paper maintains that the quality of teaching and learning provision with major emphases on literacy and related verbal learning, reasoning, and written communication skills are by far the most salient influences on students' cognitive, affective, behavioral, and experiential outcomes of schools, regardless of gender. Contains 118 references. (KB)