Today Norwegian boys get lower marks than girls in nearly every school subjects. Boys score lower on national tests and they receive much more of special education than girls. Their misbehave can create problems for the teachers and for classmates more oftren. In the comparative PISA 2003 study of pupils, Norway was the country where the gender gap in reading was highest, except Iceland (OECD 2004, Kjærnsli et al 2004). We know that there is a strong relation between reading performance and school marks. When focusing on school achievement, it will be of interest to study the boys' reading performance specially. Recent research shows that girls are personally concerned about marks than boys. This is in spite of the fact that competition is a more important part of boys' culture than girls' culture.In my study I will firstly focus on hoe boys and girls give attention to school work in general. The main focus will be on their reading competences. Second, I will discuss if there seem to be any differencies between boys with low, medium and high marks in the way that they attach importance to marks and reading performance. Perhaps it will be interesting to include the question: How does school achievement give acceptability and responsibility among their peers? Thirdly I will focus on the teachers strategies to stimulate the boys in their school performances (without impacting negatively on girls' performances). Methods. The study is based on classroom observations, interviews and questionnaires to the pupils and their teachers. In 2006/2007 my focus is on 42 pupils in grade 9. In 2007/2008 I will collaborate with a primary school (co-educational) and use obsrvations, interviews and questionnaire for their pupils and teachers. Expected outcomes. I expect that boys in my material will have lower school ambitions than girls. The hypothesis is that lower marks will give weaker motivation for school. I hope that the boys will be more motivated for school work by participating in this project. The aim is thar the project will make teachers more attentive to the special interests which boys tend to have, and that they will adjust their teaching accordingly. Since the proportion of teachers who are femalehas increased considerably in Norway in recent years, it is especially importent to focus on gender differences among teachers as well as among pupils. References. Kjærnsli, M. et. al. (2004) Rett spor eller ville veier? Norske elevers prestasjoner i matematikk, naturfag og lesing i PISA 2003. Oslo. Lauglo, H. (2005) Paper for Conference "FoU i praksis". Trondheim. Lauglo, H. (2006) Project description. Boys and Under-Achievement in school. Trondheim. OECD (2004) Learning for Tomorrows World - First Results from PISA 2003 Younger, M. and Warrington, M. Raising Boys' Achievement. Research report 636. London. Öhrn, E. (2004) Könsmönster i förändring. Stockholm. Scandinavian Journal of Educational Research