Lansing State Journal opines on single-sex education
They like it. The editorial:
October 26, 2009
Explore potential of single-sex classes
Windemere Park Charter Academy says it is having success operating so-called single-sex classrooms - all boys or all girls. The single-sex concept has been growing since 2006, when federal regulations were eased to allow more experimentation on gender-based schooling.
Struggling school districts such as Lansing should look to join the experiment. At this point, with needs great and resources slim, school districts have to look to anything that advances learning.
And proponents say single-sex classrooms advance learning, though exactly what causes the benefits is not clear. Are boys bored in the traditional, more passive learning environment? Do girls do better when boys aren’t around to distract teachers with their behavior?
While the recent surge in activity is far too young to adequately assess, anecdotal evidence should at least interest policy-makers in mid-Michigan.
For example, the Village Voice reported this summer that Eagle Academy High School in New York City - an all-boys school - had a graduation rate of 82 percent, compared to the roughly 50 percent average for the city’s black and Hispanic students.
“At Blue Ridge Middle School (in Greenville, S.C.), students who took same-sex classes as a whole outscored their coed peers. Single-gender sixth-graders scored 17 points higher on the math section of the MAP test and 21 points higher in language arts. Single-gender seventh-graders had a 59 percent decrease in out-of-school suspensions,” the Associated Press recently reported.
The National Association for Single Sex Public Education lists more than 500 single-sex learning opportunities - mostly single-sex classes. It lists a scattering of programs in Michigan, most in the Detroit area.
The association’s executive director, Leonard Sax, told the LSJ that some caution is prudent: “”We’re not saying single-sex education is best for every child - every child is different. We recommend that school districts offer a choice.”
That’s the key - choice.
Even a district like Lansing, challenged severely by student absenteeism and dropout rates, would be wise to start with a toe, not a plunge, into this pool.
Nor is this a matter just for urban districts. One of the schools listed by NASSPE is Pellston Middle School up near the Mackinac Bridge. It is decidedly not urban, but, according to the association has been offering parents the choice of single-sex classrooms since 1997.
School districts across mid-Michigan should explore what single-sex education could offer.
An LSJ editorial
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Tags: single sex editorial
