Making Strides With Single-Gender Education

By Linnea Brown, Hernando Today, Brooksville, Fla.

Jul. 18–UPDATED:

SPRING HILL — The verdict is in: Hernando County’s first foray into single-gender education reform is working.

A year into the cutting-edge experiment, in which an all-girls and all-boys class was formed at each grade level at Westside Elementary School in Spring Hill, the students in single-gender classes have shown significant improvement over their peers in mixed-gender classes.

Students’ test scores have shot up, discipline records have dissipated and attendance has improved — and the number of single-gender classes at Westside is set to double in August from two to four single-gender classes per grade level, principal Chuck Johnson said.

“We haven’t fully analyzed the FCAT scores yet, but we do have evidence from different screenings conducted throughout the year that it is working,” he said. “The first year was exploratory and we weren’t sure how it was going to go, but we (know now) that our students in single-gender classes are doing much better.”

Spearheaded by Johnson, the pilot program is based primarily on research by Leonard Sax, founding director of the National Association for Single Sex Public Education, who makes the case for recognizing gender differences in education and learning styles between girls and boys.

As more and more school districts across the nation toy with Sax’s ideas, the move to attempt single-gender education locally passed through the Hernando County School Board in February 2007. Parents were given the opportunity to either agree or reject placement in the program, and two classes per grade level were formed, with the exception of kindergarten.

Students were placed in single-gender classes in core academic subjects such as handwriting, reading, math, spelling, writing, social studies and science. They were placed in mixed-gender classes during recess, lunch and nonacademic subjects.

Even the physical learning environment in single-gender classrooms is adjusted to meet students’ needs. Based on Sax’s research, boys learn better in bright lights and a cooler environment, while girls thrive with dimmer lights and a warmer classroom.

“Girls learn better if it’s at 75 degrees and (less bright), while the optimal temperature for boys is about 69 degrees,” Johnson said. “When you walk from one classroom to the other, you can tell the difference immediately. The girls’ classes are relaxing, whereas the boys’ classrooms are a little more vibrant.”

Scott Urban, who taught fifth-grade, single-gender education alongside his wife, Donna Urban, said the improvements were apparent for both sexes.

Boys learned social and leadership skills, discipline and teamwork, while girls gained self-confidence and assertiveness, he said.

“There were a lot of success stories,” he said. “We had kids who were unsuccessful in the past that were very successful this year.”

Either way, implementing the program last August was not easy and took much patience to initially convince students to “buy into” the idea of single-gender education, he said.

Teachers were forced to think outside the box and adopt new teaching techniques, as well. The old trick of placing a quiet boy between two chatty girls or a quiet girl between two rowdy boys isn’t possible in single-gender classes, Urban noted.

“I learned that’s not the solution,” he said. “Those quiet girls have a lot more to offer than being between two noisy boys.”

To prepare single-gender teachers for last year’s transition, Johnson said he assigned them two books by Sax — “Why Gender Matters” and “Boys Adrift” — and sent them to specialized training at Stetson University near Orlando. He has done the same with this year’s batch of teachers who are switching to single-gender classrooms, he said.

On July 1, it became permissible by law for Florida schools to offer single-gender education at public schools, as long as students are offered equal opportunity to enroll in mixed-gender classes, as they are at Westside.

“It’s not for everybody, so that’s why we offer the choice,” Johnson said, acknowledging that some students who started the year in single-gender classes switched to mixed-gender classes mid-year.

However, other students did the opposite, switching into single-gender classes when they saw their peers succeeding.

Most teachers, students and parents have truly enjoyed the change, Johnson added.

“The teachers are still excited and enthusiastic about the program, and they really remained (motivated) throughout the year,” he said.

Urban said parents were the most enthusiastic about the experiment.

“I had one parent who cried and told me how proud she was of her son’s (improvement),” he said. “We have letters from parents that are really amazing. We’re so happy to be part of the program next year, and we’re proud to have a principal who is willing to try something different and keep expanding on it.”

His wife said the couple’s own children are a prime example of the program’s value.

While their fourth-grade daughter remained in a mixed-gender class and did well there, their first-grader thrived in a single-gender class, she said.

“They both had successful years,” she said.

Donna Urban said one major difference in learning style between genders is girls’ ability to follow lengthy unstructured assignments — such as quiet reading time — while boys require more structure.

Now, officials have two more years to continue collecting data from the program before a decision is finalized about the program’s direction and future in local public education.

“We’ll continue to watch the data, look at how they’re doing and how they did compared with previous years,” Johnson said.

For more on single-gender education reform, go to www.singlesexschools.org.

Reporter Linnea Brown can be reached at 352-544-5289 or lbrown@hernandotoday.com.

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Copyright (c) 2008, Hernando Today, Brooksville, Fla.

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