Single-Sex Education in Public Schools

What's the Policy?

Despite potential legal challenges, a number of public schools are experimenting with offering all-boys and all-girls classes. As part of the choice movement, some policymakers and educators believe that parents should be able to have their children educated in classes of like gender. In 1996, California initiated an experimental program of single-sex academies, and similar schools or classes have sprung up around the country. Although single-sex schools and classes have long existed in private education, legal complications have discouraged public schools from providing separate education for boys and girls. In 2002, the U.S. Department of Education indicated that it might consider easing regulations that currently discourage single-sex public schooling.

How Does It Affect Teachers?

One of the main reasons for separating the sexes is to reduce distractions and to provide equitable educational opportunities. Research indicates that in co-educational classes, boys receive much more attention than girls. Teachers who teach single-sex classes often report fewer discipline problems and greater attention to academics. Whether these results are because of the separation of the sexes or smaller class sizes isn't clear.

What Are the Pros?

For boys, single-sex classes offer a learning environment without the distraction of trying to impress members of the opposite sex. Some single-sex classes have targeted African American boys, often a population with a high risk for dropping out of school. These classes often have an African American male teacher at the elementary grades, hoping to provide the young boys with a positive role model. For girls, single-sex classes offer the opportunity to speak out freely. Many believe that by separating the sexes, girls will participate more in class, have more opportunities to provide leadership, and focus more on academ-ics rather than trying to impress boys.

What Are the Cons?

A major concern is the questionable legal status of single-sex education in public schools. Although the U.S. Supreme Court's only action on the issue dates to 1976, when the justices let stand an appeals court's ruling that Philadelphia's single-sex high schools did not violate the equal-protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, a lower federal court in 1991 forced three all-male public schools in Detroit to admit girls. In 1988, the U.S. Department of Education's office for civil rights cited racial and sex discrimination in killing a plan to hold separate classes for African American boys in Miami. In addition to the legal issue, many researchers say there is no substantial evidence that single-sex education produces the results its supporters advocate.

What Do You Think?

1. Should public schools be allowed to experiment with single-sex schools or classes? Why or why not?
2. Have you or anyone you know attended a single-sex school? If so, what advantages or disadvantages can you report?
3. If public schools are to offer single-sex education, what safeguards would you want instituted to ensure discrimination did not occur?

For more information on single-sex education, visit these web sites, then reflect on the questions that follow.

Web Links

Evidence on Single-Sex Schooling is Mixed
This June, 200 article from Education Week stresses the fact that research on single-sex schooling is limited, which makes it difficult to draw strong conclusions about the effectiveness of teaching boys and girls separately.

American Association of University Women
The AAUW has prepared this position paper in favor of mixed education, based on its own 1998 research showing that single-sex education was no better than coeducation.

ERIC Digest
This 2000 publication from the ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education summarizes research on single-sex education from the previous decade.

Some Schools Jump the Regulatory Gun, Offering Single-Sex Classes
This September, 2002 article from Education Week profiles schools that are moving toward single-sex education, in anticipation of the federal government changing rules that currently discourage the practice. For Further Reflection

1. Would you want to teach in a single-sex situation? Why or why not? If so, would you rather teach boys or girls? Why?
2. How can teachers contribute to effectiveness of single-sex education?