Single-sex schools don’t improve performance
September 23rd, 2011 - 6:53 pm ICT by IANSWashington, Sep 23 (IANS) Many parents get their children admitted to single-sex schools in the expectation that they would do better — but that’s just not the case as research shows they do not improve performance.
The latest research demonstrates that segregation increases gender stereotyping among children and teachers, and legitimises institutional sexism.
Teaching boys and girls separately has become increasingly popular during recent years with at least 500 public school single-sex classrooms currently in the US, the journal Science reports.
“Though public sentiment may have strengthened in support of such settings for improving the learning environment and outcomes for both boys and girls, the science is just not there to support this,” said study co-author Richard Fabes.
Fabes is the director of the School of Social and Family Dynamics in Arizona State University College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, according to a statement.
Similar large-scale reviews in Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand found little overall difference between single-sex and mixed-sex academic outcomes.
Differences among the sexes can grow in sex-segregated environments, making positive interactions between boys and girls constrained, the social scientists wrote.
“Separating boys and girls in public school classrooms makes gender very salient, and this salience reinforces stereotypes and sexism,” Fabes said.
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Tags: academic outcomes, arizona state university, arizona state university college, australia and new zealand, author richard, boys and girls, canada australia, co author, family dynamics, gender stereotyping, journal science reports, learning environment, public school classrooms, public sentiment, richard fabes, salience, segregation, sex schools, single sex classrooms, social scientists