Single gender education? An idea whose time has come?

[lumberjack_jeff]

http://www.singlesexschools.org/research-singlesexvscoed.htm

Researchers at Stetson University in Florida have completed a three-year pilot project comparing single-sex classrooms with coed classrooms at Woodward Avenue Elementary School, a nearby neighborhood public school. For example, students in the 4th grade at Woodward were assigned either to single-sex or coed classrooms. All relevant parameters were matched: the class sizes were all the same, the demographics were the same, all teachers had the same training in what works and what doesn't work, etc. On the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test), here were the results:
Percentage of students scoring proficient on the FCAT

boys in coed classes: 37% scored proficient
girls in coed classes: 59% scored proficient
girls in single-sex classes: 75% scored proficient
boys in single-sex classes: 86% scored proficient.
Remember, these students were all learning the same curriculum in the same school. And, this school "mainstreams" students who are learning-disabled, or who have ADHD etc. Many of those boys who scored proficient in the all-boys classes had previously been labeled "ADHD" or "ESE" in coed classes.

2008 update: in a recent report on NBC Nightly News, Professor Kathy Piechura-Couture of Stetson University , reported that over the four years of the pilot study, 55% of boys in the coed classrooms scored proficient on the FCAT, compared with 85% of boys in the all-boys classes. Same class size. Same curriculum. Same demographics.

Standardized testing gets a bad rap. The point of the lessons is to facilitate comprehension of the subject matter. That comprehension is demonstrated through testing. Boys get worse math grades and better test scores. The obvious takeaway is that grades measure something other than comprehension of the subject.

I think the time to begin doing this is in early primary grades, before boys get the message that education isn't meant for them.

[comtec]

1. It looks like separate sex education benefits both sexes

I can say that girls were a distraction in college, and bad relationships did affect my performance.
perhaps it is not a bad idea to have PUBIC education where you have boys only and girls only schools, with sports and dances the only social interaction between them both.

Perhaps public men and women-only college isn't a bad idea either.
both genders will gain from this, and perhaps we'll improve as a species.

Co-ed does not always improve things for everyone.

[demosincebirth]

2. Many Catholic HS are single gender. They excel more than those that are not