Same-sex classes growing in number nationally

by desertjim

This weekend newspapers across the country published a column by Ann Doss Helms of the Charlotte Observer about the continuing growth in the number of public schools with same-sex classes. There are increasing numbers of schools that separate girls and boys from middle school through high school.

Public school single-sex education seems to have begun in California. Governor Pete Wilson started a program in 1996 to create single-sex public schools in an attempt to duplicate the success of expensive private school programs. Six pairs of schools were created, but all but one pair had failed and closed by 2001. A Ford Foundation study proclaimed the effort largely a failure. The progam’s lack of success was blamed on badly designed programs, inadequate training in gender issues for staff and insufficient funding.

The failure of California’s experiment notwithstanding, there are now hundreds of gender-specific programs in public schools.Only six years ago there were about a dozen single gender programs in the public schools. Estimates now range from 360 to 450 schools offering gender-specific classes. In a few cases, entire schools are now single gender.  The current growth spurt in such programs began with a 2001 amendment legalizing single-sex education in contradiction to the original Title IX that required equal education for both genders.

In South Carolina, David Chadwell is the nations first state official in charge of single-sex education programs. He says that single-gender classes work best if they are optional, if teachers are well trained and if parents buy in. He also says that the teachers’ ability shapes the results.

Not everyone sees the single-gender classes as improvement. Last fall the American Civil Liberies Union threatened to sue the Cleveland school district saying the district’s five new single gender schools were discriminatory and that separate is not equal in education. The ACLU suggested the district would be better off recruiting “culturally competent” teachers, increasing teacher pay, improving school administration and making the curriculum more challenging. The National Organization of Women has also maintained that same-sex schooling would diminish the affects of Title IX.

Does the hope that single-sex classes for adolescents will reduce distractions and address different learning styles offer sufficient inducement to continue to expand such programs? I would be interested in hearing from teachers who have worked in such programs on the pros and cons of eparating students by gender.

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