Alissa McCommon

Alissa McCommon is an American woman accused of raping a then 12 year old boy at her home in 2021. The boy reported attended Charger Academy where McCommon was employed as an English Language, Arts and Social Studies teacher.

Police have indicated that they may be alleging more victims.

In March 2024 McCommon was charged in relation to 23 additional offences. Research conducted by the London School of Economic's Centre for Economic Performance and elsewhere found that female teachers tend to mark down male students. The research went on to show that male students recognise this and tend to put less effort in for female teachers, recognising that they will be subject to discrimination. In contrast female students tend to put in more effort for male teachers despite male teachers marking students fairly regardless of gender.

Follow up research by the OECD confirmed these results across 60 countries. Research carried out at MIT also confirmed that female teachers tend to mark boys down but male teachers tend to mark fairly across genders.

Some researchers claim that this is a result of boys being more disruptive in class and female teachers tending to academically mark down students as a result of disruptive behaviour.

Some research suggests that boys tend to do better when assessed by exam and girls tend to do better when assessed by course work. This may be partly a result of a tendency for boys to engage in risky behaviour.