Research divided on same-sex classrooms

More and more schools are trying to solve academic and behavioral problems by switching to single-sex classrooms, but the results have been mixed.

There are 392 public schools in the United States offering single-sex educational opportunities for the 2008-09 school year, which include co-ed schools that offer single-sex classes. Only 97 of these schools are exclusively single-gender schools, according to the National Association for Single Sex Public Education (NASSPE).

Single-gender classrooms promote self-esteem, can boost test scores and break down gender stereotypes, according to NASSPE.

Opponents say single-sex classrooms will weaken Title IX, part of the 1972 Higher Education Act requiring equality for males and females in federally-funded educational institutions, according to the American Civil Liberties Union and National Organization for Women.

The support for single-sex classrooms is fueled by an achievement gap between boys and girls. Girls do better in test scores, graduation rates and attendance, according to a recent study by the Boston School Committee.

However, the American Association of University Women said there is no achievement gap and both genders have stayed the same or slightly improved in testing, according to their report "Where the Girls Are: The Facts About Gender Equity in Education."

NASSPE said the reason some single-sex classrooms are not successful is because the schools did not thoroughly research differences between how boys and girls learn.

Chelsey Cossman, a second-year secondary education student, attended an all-girls school her freshman year in high school and wasn't impressed.

"I think it is dumb because it shelters you," Cossman said. "You don't get to be cultured about others."

The 2002 No Child Left Behind Act authorized districts to use funds to establish same-sex schools. In 2006, the U.S. Department of Education created new regulations to allow single-sex classrooms in co-educational public schools.

The new regulations require co-ed public schools to provide rationale for creating a single-gender classroom. There must be accessible, co-ed classes in the same subject and every two years a review has to be conducted determining whether a single-sex classroom is still necessary.

Withrow University High School in Cincinnati offers single-sex classrooms in all subjects for ninth and 10th graders. Harmony Community School in Cincinnati is a charter school where boys and girls are separate for all activities, according to NASSPE.

Republican Sens. Jim Demint and John Cornyn have introduced a bill in the U.S. Senate that would give power to state and local governments to make funding decisions and instructional methods. This would make it possible for parents to have more influence over education choices, according to Demint.

Demint said the bill is necessary because the national dropout rate is at an all-time high. Children in the United States lag behind the rest of the world in math and science test scores, according to the 2006 Program for International Student Assessment.