Adrian R-3 started the 2011-2012 school year this week like most other area schools with one exception- boys and girls have been separated in some classes. Bates County Live spoke to Principal Chris Shanks on Tuesday to discover that plans to segregate classes were purely based on academic reasons only. We spoke at length with Mr. Shanks on the subject, who offered to forward some of the research data used in the decision to separate the sexes:
According to Holthouse (2010),…”In 2001, only 11 public schools in the United States had gender-segregated classrooms…in December 2009, there were more than 550. The movement is based on the hypothesis that hard-wired differences in ways that male and female brains develop and function in childhood through adolescence require classroom separated by gender.”
“In a study of gender specific classrooms in two public schools in Arkansas, one in grade 5 and the other in grade 6, the gender specific classroom seemed to make a difference…in reading achievement…as judged by the state exam” (Stotsky, Denny & Tschepikow, 2009).
The Arkansas study also reported the following common themes in the qualitative interview data (Stotsky, Denny & Tschepikow, 2009):
The benefits of single-sex classes:
-less distraction for either sex
-better accommodation of each sex’s interests
-more suitable for shy or quiet children of either sex
-examples for academic concepts and class readings better tailored to each sex
-leadership skills of each sex emerged better
-teachers could learn more about the natural traits of each sex, positive or negative
-teachers could focus on each sex’s general interest better
The Arkansas study also indicated that there “does not seem to be an academic downside in experimenting with single-sex classes (Stotsky, Denny & Tschepikow, 2009).
In another study publish in Great Britain by the British Journal of Sociology Education indicated that, “Teachers, parents and children reported positive benefits from the class organization, but these differed according to gender. Staff identified confidence and higher self esteem among girls, whereas boys developed increased motivation and more commitment to schoolwork. Teachers and parents noted that boys’ accountability and self-disciple improved. Teachers adopted different strategies from those used with mixed gender classes and gained higher levels of satisfaction from teaching, attributed to increased children’s time on task (Wills, Kirkpatrick and Hutton).
In yet another study published in Great Britain by the British Journal of Sociology Education, reported that “Girls from single sex…classes reported a better…self-concept of ability that girls from a coeducational classes, while boys self-concept of ability did not very vary according to class composition. For both boys and girls, gender related self-knowledge was less accessible in single-sex classes than in mixed-sex classes. To the extent that girls’ feminine self-knowledge was relatively less accessible than their masculine self-knowledge, their…related self concept of ability improved at the end of the school year.” The study clarifies why “single-sex schooling helps adolescents to gain a better self-concept of ability in school subjects that are considered inappropriate for their own sex (Kessels & Hannover, 2008).
Spielhagen (2006) reported that “boys were at ease in single-sex groups because they were able to compete with peers; girls said they felt safer speaking up without fear of boys making fun of them. Among older middle school students, boys were less enthusiastic than girls about continuing single sex arrangements, asserting that bullying was more of a problem with only boys present. Spielhagen concludes that…single sex classes in public middles school can help create a positive challenging learning climate” (2006).
Younger and Warrington indicate that there “has been a resurrection of interest in single-sex classes in coeducational public state schools” in the United States. The article suggests that single sex classes have the potential to raise achievement levels of both boys and girls and to have a positive impact on the atmosphere and ethos for learning.” (2006).
Resources
Gillies, Warna. (2001). Leadership for gender-equal education. Principal Leadership. N7 p35-37
Mar 2001.
Holthouse, David. (2010). Gender segregation: separate but effective? Teaching
Tolerance. N37 p25-27 Spr 2010.
Kessels, U. & Hannover, B. (2008). When being a girl matters less. British
Journal of Educational Psychology. v78 n2 p273-289.
Spielhagen, Frances R. (2006). How tweens view single-sex classes. Educational
Leadership. v63 n7 p68-69, 71-72.
Stotsky, S., Denney,G., & Tschepikow, N. (2010). Single-sex classes in two Arkansas
elementary schools. University of Arkansas Education Working Paper Archive. Jan 15,
2010.
Wills, R., Kilpatrick, S., & Hutton, B. (2006). Single-sex classes in co-educational schools.
British Journal of Educational Psychology. v27 n3 p277-291.
Younger, M. & Warrington, M. (2006) Would harry and hermione done better in single-sex
classes? American Educational Research Journal. V43 n4 p579-620, 42 pp.
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