Single-Sex Education: Link to Further Information

Until the late 19th century, education in the United States was single-sex education. Coeducation gradually entered the American educational landscape in the late 1800s (Bureau of Education, 1883; Butler, 1910; Kolesnik, 1969), and since that time, single-sex education mainly has been confined to private and denominational (mostly Catholic) schools. According to Tyack and Hansot (1990) and Hawtrey (1896), economic factors were the major impetus for the rising “tide of coeducation.” Simply put, it was cheaper to educate boys and girls together than to operate separate schools, which would have required duplicating expensive facilities, equipment, and personnel.

AUTHOR: Vincent A. Anfara, Jr. (2008)

Although for most of the nation's history, coeducation has been the norm in public elementary and secondary school, recent years have marked an increasing interest in public single-sex education. The No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB) authorized school districts to use local or innovative program funds to offer single-sex schools and classrooms consistent with applicable laws and the U.S. Department of Education has published amendments to the Title IX regulations to provide additional flexibility to implement single-sex programs.

AUTHORS: Riordan, C., Faddis, B., Beam, M., Seager, A., Tanney, A., DiBiase, R., Ruffin, M., Valentine, J.
U.S. Department of Education, 2008

The research that has been conducted on single-sex schools and classes, has for the most part, been done in the private school and college realm, primarily because very few public schools established single-sex programs. One of the consistent findings has been that with so much emphasis having been placed on the development of girls, that boys are now the group being shortchanged, especially in the areas of reading and writing.

AUTHOR: Erik Robelen (2013)

Since the founding of NASSPE/NACE in 2002, there has been a resurgence of interest in single-sex public education in the United States. Unfortunately, this exuberance has led some school districts to plunge into experimentation with this format without a thorough grounding in the complexities of the single-gender format. Without proper training, the single-gender format does not magically boost outcomes, and may even lead to disappointing results. With proper training in how best to take advantage of the single-gender format, however, good outcomes are much more likely.

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This study explores the experiences of urban African American males at a first year single-gender charter school in the Southern region of the United States. The present case study was based on interviews and focus groups with parents, teachers, students, and the school administrator, and a participant observation of Excel Academy [pseudonym]. The findings of this study suggest that there were four critical instructional complexities that emerged: expectations dissonance, disguised engagement, differential engagement, and expectations overload. Remarkably, these issues were being addressed by a school value created by students and institutionalized by teachers--To Never Quit. Recommendations to address each instructional complexity are explored.

AUTHOR: Marlon C. James (2010)

On all of the indicators of academic achievement, educational attainment, and school success, African-American and Latino males are noticeably distinguished from other segments of the American population by their consistent clustering at the bottom (Schott, 2010). With few exceptions, these dismal patterns exist in urban, suburban, and rural school districts throughout the United States. Nationally, African-American and Latino males are more likely than any other group to be suspended and expelled from school (Fergus & Noguera, 2010).

AUTHOR: Pedro A. Noguera, Phi Delta Kappan (2012)

Middleton, ID - Single Sex Classroom Fight Ending Soon
By Brian Morrin Published: Aug 1, 2013 at 10:15 PM MDT

MIDDLETON, Idaho (KBOI) – School will soon be back in session and at Middleton Heights Elementary, that means boys and girls will be in separate classrooms. It’s not mandatory, parents choose where their children are placed.

There has been considerable research and policy debate internationally about whether single-sex schooling
yields academic and social advantages for girls and/or boys. This article outlines some of the findings from
research on single-sex education conducted in English-speaking countries. In particular, it looks at research on
the impact of single-sex schooling on academic achievement, subject take-up, personal and social development, and adult outcomes. In doing so, it attempts to provide a critical perspective on some of the key issues involved in comparing the two settings.

AUTHOR: Emer Smyth (2010)

Single-sex education refers most generally to education at the elementary, secondary, or postsecondary level in which males or females attend school exclusively with members of their own sex. This report deals primarily with single-sex education at the elementary and secondary levels. Research in the United States on the question of whether public single-sex education might be beneficial to males, females or a subset of either group (particularly disadvantaged youths) has been limited. However, because there has been a resurgence of single-sex schools in the public sector, it was deemed appropriate to conduct a systematic review of single-sex education research.

AUTHORS: Mael, F., Alonso, A., Gibson, D., Rogers, K., Smith, M. (2005)

The question of whether single-sex schooling is preferable to coeducation for some or all students continues to be hotly debated. Much of the debate is philosophical and would be waged even if single-sex schooling were shown to be highly advantageous for one or more subpopulations.

AUTHORS: Mael, F., Smith, M., Alonso, A., Rogers, K., Gibson, D. (2013)