DESTREHAN, La. — During a recent group project in her eighth-grade engineering class, Charlotte Buccola took charge. Standing between the two boys on her team, she silently arranged sticky notes on a wall as the group tried, without speaking, to design a system for making hot chocolate.

As the students at Harry Hurst Middle School practiced the engineering design process and the critical skill of collaboration, the girls seemed to excel. They worked efficiently and cooperatively, offering their peers support.

“Your drawings are really good,” Charlotte told another girl when they were comparing designs. “Well done.”

Efforts to close the gap between boys and girls in STEM classes are picking up after losing steam nationwide during the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic. Schools have extensive

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