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US Acquires Taste of Same-Gender Education

By Vicki A. Oman
01-Feb-10


In Minnesota, a Grade 1 boy sits on an exercise ball instead of a chair, and learns as a member of a team of classmates competing with another team. In Virginia, a small group of girls collaborates to solve mathematics problems in the warm glow of a table lamp. What do these two vignettes have in common? Both occurred in a same-gender classroom in a US public school.
In the US, same-gender classrooms have historically been offered in private schools, not public schools. In 2002, only 11 US public schools offered same-gender classrooms. Today more than 540 public schools offer same-gender classrooms, and the popularity of this option is growing. The sharp increase was made possible in 2006 by amendments to Title IX, after the federal government passed the No Child Left Behind Act. Results have been mixed, and the use of same-gender classrooms is still hotly debated, but in supported settings many schools have seen marked improvements in test scores and student discipline.
Opponents include the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the American Association of University Women (AAUW), and both groups consider same-gender classrooms to be unconstitutional, unlawful, and harmful. The ACLU believes that same-gender education deprives girls and boys of the benefits of coeducation, leaving them unprepared for our mixed-gender society. The AAUW is concerned that same-gender classrooms will promote discrimination by restricting educational opportunities for girls and boys, and will actually reinforce gender stereotypes.
Not so, according to physician and psychologist Leonard Sax, founder of the National Association for Single Sex Public Education (NASSPE). Single-gender classrooms actually prevent gender intensification—in other words, gender differences are intensified in a coed setting, whereas girls and boys are more likely to engage in nontraditional or gender-atypical subjects when in a same-gender setting. Sax also describes the developmental differences in the brains of boys and girls, which result in distinct strengths and different ways of learning. Rather than restricting opportunities, Sax posits that single-gender classrooms actually expand educational opportunity in settings created with girls’ and boys’ particular needs in mind.
Other countries, including the UK and Australia, have a longer history of same-gender classrooms than the US. In 2005, Cambridge University education researchers Mike Younger and Molly Warrington published Raising Boys’ Achievement, after following primary, secondary, and special schools, representing a variety of socio-economic demographics, during the years 2001-2004. The goal of the UK study was to determine best practices for improving boys’ lagging achievement, and their findings revealed that same-gender classrooms promoted higher achievement among boys and girls.
As they explain, “Freed from concerns about image, appearance and the need to ‘perform to role’, boys and girls have repeatedly described the advantages to be gained from being taught in single-sex classes: a willingness to engage more in discussion and questioning, being prepared to discuss emotions and explore feelings, a readiness to participate without fear of scorn or discomfort. When such classes have been taught effectively and sensitively, achievement levels have risen markedly, for both boys and girls, particularly when the strategy has been carefully targeted at the needs of particular students studying particular subjects.”
The researchers also found that the same pedagogies were effective with girls as well as boys—for example, competition was found to be equally effective with boys and girls. The crucial factor of success actually appears to be collaboration among teachers, and the support of the whole school, families and caregivers, and students.
Same-gender classrooms are not a panacea, and will not be helpful for all students. Many schools which had poor results abandoned the practice after a year; but successful schools report that a minimum of two years is necessary to determine effectiveness.
The state of South Carolina has more than 200 schools which offer same-gender classrooms. David Chadwell, of the Office for Public School Choice in the South Carolina Department of Education, has published a list of 10 practices his state has found to be successful in same-gender classrooms; his suggestions appear in the journal Advances in Gender and Education, and are available online at http://www.mcrcad.org/Web_Chadwell.pdf.
Dr. Sax’s suggestions are also available online, at http://www.singlesexschools.org.




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