Single-Sex Education: Downloadable Resources and Reports

This technical report provides the brief history, legality and research surrounding the gender age gap and single-sex education. Single-sex education refers to educational settings in which male and female students attend classes or schools exclusively with members of their own sex. This educational model has been debated on philosophical and legal grounds. Research on single-sex education is divided, with no definitive argument to compel the justification of their existence or to dismiss their utility as an alternative educational option. Finally, this report discusses the advantages and disadvantages of single-sex education and provides specific gender gap data for the state of Connecticut.

Author: Elizabeth A. Self
Vanderbilt University
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Published: May, 2010

PIER Working Paper 12-038
Authors: Hyunjoon Park, Jere R. Behrman, and Jaesung Choi
Penn Institute for Economic Research, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania
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Published: September, 2012

The advent of single-sex schools is not a new innovation; however, its prevalence as a strategy for educating boys of color has grown exponentially over the past 10 years. Unlike single-sex schools for girls, whose premise is to provide girls equitable access and opportunity while expanding notions of femininity and gender roles and expectations, single-sex schools for boys, especially boys of color do not have a well-articulated theory for this intervention. Our research sought to develop a theoretical basis for characterizing this intervention as it relates to Black and Latino boys. This brief provides an initial landscape of how practitioners of single-sex schools for boys of color theorize their intervention and the basis for their theory.

NY – NYC Steinhardt, Metropolitan Center for Urban Education
Published: April 2010

In recent years, a growing body of academic research has documented the benefits of single-sex instruction, especially for students from economically disadvantaged families. Even in the United States Supreme Court’s decision in U.S. v. Virginia (1996), generally viewed as a setback for single-sex schools, all justices – from Ruth Bader Ginsburg to Antonin Scalia – agreed that single-sex education offers positive educational benefits. Chief Justice William Rehnquist, in his concurrence, explained that “considerable evidence shows that a single-sex education is pedagogically beneficial for some students...and hence a State may have a valid interest in promoting that methodology.”

NY – Foundation for Education Reform and Accountability
Published: September 2006

This white paper outlines the issues surrounding single-gender education in the United States and in Austin, and provides a background and context in which to examine the recent efforts to study the feasibility of – and potentially implement – a single-gender school for boys in Austin Independent School District.

TX – Austin Independent School District
Published: August 2011

NEA Reviews of the Research on Best Practices in Education

If you walked into the average public school classroom in the United States, you'd find an equal number of boys and girls. But some experts suggest it may be time for a change. Single-gender education and the often-spirited dialogue surrounding it have raised a number of issues concerning the best manner to educate boys and girls.

NEA - National Education Association

In November of 2006, new, less stringent federal regulations on single-sex public education took effect. Previously, with very limited exceptions, classes could not be segregated on the basis of sex. Generally, non-vocational schools could exclude a student from admission based on gender if the excluded students were provided with a comparable single-sex opportunity. The new rules allow single-sex classrooms if it is substantially related to the achievement of an important objective. In some cases, a comparable single-sex class may be required for the excluded sex. Single-sex schools are permitted if the district offers the excluded sex a substantially equal single-sex or coed school.

Author: Soncia Coleman, Associate Legislative Analyst
Published: December 2006

The following literature review was conducted in response to a staff request to examine recent literature and research regarding the notion of single-sex schools, with a particular focus on the needs of and the educational options for boys, and specifically all-boy schools. The structure for this review emerged as we started to read and came to better understand the complexity of the perspectives and debate surrounding this issue, the influences that are shaping recent directions, and the interpretation of the data and evidence that informs these conversations. It became apparent that a broader discussion of the issues and implications was needed, beyond a description of existing schools.

Authors: Sally Erling and Jan O’Reilly, Research Coordinators
Published: October 2009

Toronto District School Board – Research Report
Issued by Organizational Development/Research and Information Services