Alabama
Foley Intermediate School has twice been recognized as being one of the most successful schools in the state in closing the achievement gap
between Black and White students after adopting
the single-sex format. Faculty from Foley Intermediate gave a presentation at the
NASSPE conference in October 2008 to share the some of the secrets of their success.
In part because of the inspiration provided by Foley Intermediate School, two other schools in the district have adopted single-sex programs:
Bay Minette Intermediate School and Bay Minette Middle School.
Fourth grade all-girls teacher Shelly Stewart says, "It allows the girls to 'shine' and they feel more free to express themselves." Shannon Garrett, another all girls teacher, shares
"I have seen that the girls are more comfortable sharing their ideas in Science." Danielle Watson, fifth grade all-boys teacher exclaims, "Teaching the all boys class has allowed me to experience a positive learning community . . . We now have gentlemen."
Administrators and teachers have seen that overall for students in the single gender classes, daily attendance is high, discipline is lower, and achievement was improved.
Ervin Elementary, in Pine Hill, began offering single-sex classes for grades 5 and 6 in the 2005-2006 school year.
The Wilcox County middle school, formally known as the Camden School of Arts & Technology, began offering single-sex classes for grades 7 and 8, in the 2005-2006 school year.
East Lawrence Middle School, in northwest Alabama, began offering single-sex classes in January 2006. "The biggest surprise
to us has been what a non-issue it was this year," Principal Cindy Praytor said in 2007. "The students just accepted it, and I've not gotten
any complaints -- from students or parents." Praytor also observed that the boys in the all-boys classrooms "are really well behaved, especially
in the female teachers' classrooms. There's a respect there, and it's magnified when they're all together."
The Maplesville School in Maplesville began offering single-sex classrooms in grades 4, 5, and 6 in the 2004-2005 school year. The students' achievement
on DIBELS testing showed immediate and dramatic improvement. The 4th-graders had benchmarked at 21% prior to the introduction of single-sex classrooms: when those same students
were tested the following spring, they showed a dramatic increase in performance, now scoring at 75%. "By separating the kids, they are able to learn better and achieve their goals, while
behavioral problems have decreased," said teacher Jacqueline Sullivan.
Davis Hills Middle School, in northwest Huntsville, began offering single-gender classrooms, for 6th- and 7th-graders, in 2005.
Fayette Middle School, in Fayette County, began offering single-sex classes in math, science, English, and reading, in August 2004.
Top
Alaska
Gilson Junior High in Valdez began offering single-sex classes
in 2006-2007 in reading, language arts and social studies, for 7th-grade girls and boys.
Top
Arizona
Andersen Junior High School, in Chandler, began offering single-sex classes in 2006.
"We've really noticed significant improvement with [more] participation by both boys and girls. Their energy
levels are higher, and we've had fewer discipline problems," said principal Jim Anderson.
The success of the program at Andersen Junior High inspired
administrators at Desert Shadows Middle School in nearby Apache Junction to start their own
single-sex classes in the fall of 2007.
Cactus Middle School in Casa Grande (about 25 miles south of Phoenix) began offering single-sex classes in all grades
(6, 7, and 8) in the fall of 2005.
The Westwind Middle School Academy in Phoenix is offers single-gender classrooms.
"Boys are working harder
and helping each other more," according to teacher Joshua
Jordan. "Just being able to address the class as 'ladies'
or 'gentlemen' made a class bond," Jordan said. Teacher
Sara Lyon said that girls -- especially those who are usually
timid -- participate more in the girls-only classes.
Sahuarita Middle School (in Sahuarita) began offering single-sex classes in 2006-2007.
Top
Arkansas
In April 2010, Connie Matchell, curriculum director of the Siloam Springs School District, notified us that two schools in her district are offering single-sex classrooms as of the 2009-2010 school year:
Allen Elementary is offering all-girls classrooms, and all-boys classrooms, for students in 2nd grade (this school houses only grades 1 and 2). Southside Elementary is offering
single-sex classrooms for girls, and for boys, in 3rd and 4th grade. This school offers grades 3, 4, and 5. Coed classrooms are available in all grades at both schools.
Hope High School in Hope, Arkansas, offers some single-gender classrooms.
Monitor Elementary and Middle School, in Springdale, began offering single-gender classrooms in 2008.
Farmington Intermediate School, in Farmington, opened in 2008 offering both single-gender and co-ed classrooms in both grades (grade 4 and grade 5).
Fairview Elementary School in Fort Smith offers single-gender classrooms just in 6th grade, as of the 2009-2010 school year.
Top
California
Compton Avenue Elementary School, in Los Angeles, began offering some gender-separate classrooms in the 2007-2008 school year.
The Young Oak Kim Academy Middle School, in Los Angeles, began offering single-gender classrooms in all subjects in the fall of 2009.
Thompson Middle School, in Murrieta, began offering single-sex classes in 2006-2007.
*The San Francisco 49'ers Academies were one of the six single-sex
academies opened in 1996 and 1997 under the short-lived California
program to establish single-sex public schools, and the only
one of the six still remaining in operation today (the others
closed after funding for the program lapsed in 1999). There
are a total of about 90 girls and 90 boys enrolled, in grades 5
through 8. The Academies take their name from the fact that
the San Francisco 49'ers (the NFL franchise) is a sponsor
of the school, and football players from the NFL team occasionally
visit the school.
*New Village Charter High School in Los Angeles is an all-girls college prep school.
The focus of the school, which opened in the fall of 2006, is on girls from low-income neighborhoods.
North Woods Discovery School is a charter school in Redding. The school offers grades K-8.
Single-sex classes are offered in grades 6, 7, and 8 in math, science, and language arts. More information
about the school is available at www.nwds.org.
Jordan High School, in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, has offered an all-boys class
since 2005. The extraordinary success of these boys was the feature of a front-page article
in the Los Angeles Times published November 2, 2006. The success of this program has inspired the
nearby King-Drew Medical Magnet School to begin offering single-sex classes for 2007-2008.
The Excel Charter Academy is a middle school northeast of downtown Los Angeles which offers
single-sex classes to 6th-graders.
Franklin Elementary School, in Modesto, began offering gender-separate classes for 4th-graders
in the fall of 2006.
Burbank Middle School, in association with the Triad
Alliance (a cooperative program run by UCSF) is offering single-sex
classrooms in math and science.
Black Mountain Middle School, near Poway, began offering single-sex classes in
science and physical education in 2004-2005 and has subsequently expanded the program.
San Ysidro High School in Otay Mesa (near San Diego)
introduced single-sex classes in just 8 (out of 320) of the school's classes in 2003-2004.
Results were encouraging, so the program has expanded in subsequent years
to a total of 36 gender-separate classes, serving 900 students, in single-gender algebra, science, and physical
education classes.
Samantha Jaramillo, a 16-year-old junior, said "I've noticed that I've learned
more in all-girls [classrooms] because I speak up and I'm not shy and the guys don't make fun of me if I screw up."
Woodcrest Elementary School, in Riverside, launched a single-gender program for sixth-graders in the spring of 2006.
"We've been very satisfied with the results we've had," Principal Hayley Calhoun told local reporter Robert Mayer of the Press-Enterprise.
"In the [all-]girl classes, I've heard voices from girls I've never heard before," said math teacher Renee Pierce.
Student Dallas Mihalik, age 12, also approves of the new format.
"It's much more quiet. You don't have as much noise," says Mihalik. "You don't have boys interrupting you and stuff."
Pierce has observed similar improvement among the boys. "I'm finding the boys much more willing to ask questions," she says.
"Before, they weren't willing to do that because they didn't want to look dumb in front of the girls."
"When there [were] girls in the class, I wouldn't want to say something and get it wrong," agrees Ryan Powers, age 12.
Top
Colorado
Arapahoe High School, in Littleton, began offering single-gender courses in the 2003-2004 school year in math, physical education,
science, and social studies. The single-gender format has been expanded to include English and reading.
Roncalli Middle School in Pueblo began offering single-sex classes for sixth-graders in the 2005-2006 school year.
The *James Irwin Charter Middle School,
in Colorado Springs, is organized as a "dual academy" for grades 6, 7, and 8: girls are in girls-only classes, boys
are in boys-only classes.
Axl Academy, a K-8 charter school in Aurora, offers single-gender classrooms in most grades.
Top
Connecticut
The Beecher School in New Haven is a public elementary school which began
offering single-sex classes to 4th and 5th graders in 2006.
Top
Delaware
The *Prestige Academy in Wilmington is a public charter all-boys school enrolling boys in
grades 5 through 8. More information is available at www.prestigeacademycs.org.
Top
District of Columbia
Randle Highlands Elementary School, in Southeast, as well as Harriet Tubman Elementary School
in Northwest, both began offering single-gender classrooms in the 2009. In August 2009, teachers from both schools attended a
two-day workshop on best practice for single-gender classrooms, hosted by Randle Highlands Elementary, and led by
Dr. Leonard Sax, director of NASSPE.
*Septima Clark Public Charter School, an all-boys public elementary charter school, began enrolling boys in
grades K-2 in the fall of 2006. The school now enrolls boys in grades K-3. All staff attended a professional
development seminar led by NASSPE Executive Director Leonard Sax
in July 2006. In August 2007, Dr. Abigail James, a member of the NASSPE
Advisory Board, led another full-day professional development seminar for school faculty.
The Hope Community Charter School, located at 2917 8th St. NE, offers single-sex classes
for students in grades 5, 6, 7, and 8. Teachers for the single-sex classes attended a professional
development seminar led by NASSPE Executive Director Leonard Sax
in July 2006.
Top
Florida
Westside Elementary, in Hernando, began offering single-sex classrooms in the 2007-2008 school year, in all grades (K-5),
for both girls and boys.
"Something magical has happened at Westside Elementary School . . .", according to an
article in the St. Petersburg Times. "Girls are coming out of their shells. Boys are working hard. . . Chalk it up to single-sex classes."
In June 2007, half-a-dozen teachers from Westside Elementary School attended a two-day, 14-hour workshop on best practice for gender-separate classrooms,
hosted by Stetson University and led by Dr. Leonard Sax, director of NASSPE.
Now those teachers are seeing tremendous benefits from the strategies they have employed in their single-gender classrooms --
benefits for both girls and boys. Click here to read the full article.
*The Richard Allen Leadership Academy is an all-boys public elementary charter school in Miami which opened in the fall of 2008.
James Elementary School in East Tampa began offering gender-separate classrooms in the 2008-2009 school year.
Ballard Elementary and Oneco Elementary, both in Manatee County, began offering single-sex classrooms
in the 2007-2008 school year.
Forest Grove Middle School, in Fort Pierce, began offering single-sex classes in math, history, reading, and science
for 8th-graders only, in 2006-2007. Kerri Walukiewicz teaches the all-boys 8th-grade reading and language arts class. She points
to an essay by one boy, Ramon: "I worry about my sister. I cry when someone dies in my family. I am Ramon." Ms. Walukiewicz believes
that in a coed class, Ramon would not have been comfortable expressing this emotion.
Inspired by the success
of the program at Forest Grove, Fellsmere Elementary, also on the Treasure Coast, began offering single-sex classrooms
for 5th-graders, in 2007-2008.
*Young Women's Preparatory Academy in Miami opened its doors to girls in grades 6 thru 10 in
the fall of 2006. The school now enrolls girls in grades 6 through 12. The *Young Men's Preparatory Academy, also in Miami, opened in the 2008-2009 school year.
Odyssey Middle School, in Boynton Beach, began offering
single-sex classrooms in 2003.
Belcher Elementary School, in Clearwater, began offering single-sex classes to 2nd- and 3rd-graders
in the fall of 2006. In April 2007, parent Cheryl Peck commented on the change she has seen in her daughter in the time since her daughter
began in the single-sex program. "She's more determined. She knows what she wants, [and] academically I was so impressed with the big change
from one year to the next."
Spring Lake Elementary, in Altamonte Springs, began offering single-sex classes in the 2006-2007
school year. Staff from the school attended a workshop led by Dr. Sax, executive director of NASSPE, and hosted by
Stetson University, in the spring of 2007.
Melrose Elementary, in St. Petersburg, began offering single-sex classes for 4th-graders in the fall of 2006.
Ribault Middle School in Duval County began offering single-sex classrooms in
the 2004-2005 school year. The program has since been expanded to all three grades.
Orangewood Elementary School in Fort Myers began offering single-gender classrooms for
5th-graders, in the fall of 2006. By the end of the 2006-2007 year, every boy in the all-boys
class scored proficient in both reading and math on the FCAT, the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test.
That was a huge change from the previous year, when most of those same boys failed to score proficient in either
reading or math. The all-boys format allowed the boys to become "a team," according to teacher Hana Ahmad.
"They looked like a family," Ahmad said. "It wasn't about one person succeeding; it was about everyone
succeeding."
Woodward Avenue Elementary School offers single-sex classrooms in kindergarten, 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th grades for 2005-2006. Core academic classes
all are single-sex, while lunch and physical education are coed. The extraordinary success of the program at Woodward Avenue
Elementary has attracted national attention, leading to feature stories in the Orlando Sentinel, People magazine,
and USA Today.
The Pace Centers for Girls are a group of seventeen public schools around Florida
which have achieved an extraordinary record of success with girls at risk. These schools, each
independently administered, are located in *Alachua, *Broward, *Collier-Immokalee, *Escambia-Santa Rosa, *Fort Myers, *Hillsborough (Tampa), *Jacksonville,
*Leon, *Manatee, *Marion, *Orange, *Palm Beach, *Pasco, *Polk, *Treasure Coast, and *Volusia-Flagler.
Top
Georgia
DeKalb County Public Schools (northeast of Atlanta) have two public schools offering single-sex classrooms for 2008-2009. Avondale Middle School offers
single-gender classrooms under the leadership of principal Dr. Bernetta Jones. Dr. Jones invited Dr. Leonard Sax, executive director of NASSPE, to
lead a two-day training workshop for her teachers, in March 2008. Also in DeKalb County, Ronald McNair Middle School offers single-gender classrooms,
under the leadership of principal Susan Freeman. Ms. Freeman invited Dr. Leonard Sax, executive director of NASSPE, to
lead a two-day training workshop for her teachers, in the summer of 2008 just prior to the launch of the new school year.
Atlanta Public Schools launched two single-sex schools in the fall of 2007. The
*Coretta Scott King Young Women's Leadership Academy will enroll 6th-, 7th- and 8th-graders in 2009-2010, adding one grade per year until the school is a 6-12 school.
Likewise, the *B.E.S.T. Academy at Benjamin Carson, will enroll 6th-, 7th- and 8th-graders in 2009-2010, adding one grade per year until the school is a 6-12 school.
Curt Green, principal of the B.E.S.T. Academy, was a speaker at our 2008 NASSPE conference and will again be a speaker at the October 2009 NASSPE conference in Atlanta.
The *Ivy Preparatory Academy is a charter public school for girls which opened in Gwinnett County in the fall of 2008.
Like the Coretta Scott King YWL Academy and the B.E.S.T. Academy, the plan at Ivy Prep is to add one grade each year until the school is a 6-12 school.
Also in the Atlanta metropolitan area, the Imagine Wesley International Academy is a public charter school which launched in 2008-2009,
offering single-sex classes in all core subjects. Coed classes are offered for art, music, theater, and Mandarin Chinese.
Wilkinson County Middle School began offering gender-separate classrooms in the 2008-2009 school year.
Under the leadership of principal Sherrod Willaford, C. J. Hicks Elementary in Conyers began offering single gender classes in grades 2 through 5 in 2009.
Garrison Elementary School, in Savannah, began offering
single-sex classrooms in the 4th and 5th grades in 1999. The
program is continuing under the leadership of Principal Karen
Grant. She says that discipline problems for both sexes decreased by "at least 50 percent" after the program
was introduced. Those are "the cold hard facts,"
says Grant.
King Middle School, in Atlanta, began offering single-sex
classrooms in core subjects (math, science, English, social
studies) for 6th graders, in 2004.
Lewis Frasier Middle School, in Hinesville, began offering
a single-sex section (one girls-only section, one boys-only
section) beginning in 2003-2004. The success of the program prompted school leaders
to expand the program to the entire 6th and 7th grade. "When you ask the kids if they like it, as a group together they'll say they want the other gender back," said school administrator Dr. Yvette Keel.
"But when I talk to each one of the students individually, they'll tell me they like it and they've seen their grades go up." Dr. Sax,
executive director of NASSPE, met with teachers at Lewis Frasier in 2005 to lead an all-day workshop on best practices for single-sex education.
Marietta High School, in Marietta, began offering single-sex Algebra I classes in the 2003-2004.
Campbell Middle School, in Smyrna (Cobb County) began offering classes in single-gender format for the 2003-2004 school year.
According to Dr. Charlie Bowen, from nearby Bagwell College,
"the vast majority of responses from teachers and parents who have observed
the effects of the new single-gender classes have been overwhelmingly positive."
Dr. H. Earl Holliday, the school's principal, spoke at the ASCD conference
in Orlando, Florida in April 2005
about the success of the program.
He presented data showing that
students' performance on standardized tests had improved by more than ten
percentile ranks since introduction of the single-sex format.
Dr. Holliday has also informed us that three other nearby elementary schools began offering single-sex classrooms in 2005. Those schools are Teasley Elementary School,
Argyle Elementary School, and Harmony-Leland Elementary School, all in the Cobb County School District.
Winder-Barrow Middle School, in Barrow County, began offering single-gender classrooms in the 2007-2008 school year.
North Clayton Middle School in College Park, Georgia,
began offering an all-male academy for sixth and seventh-grade boys in the fall of 2008; for 2009-2010, the school offers both
an all-male academy and an all-female academy.
Top
Idaho
Middleton Heights Elementary began offering single-sex classrooms in 1st grade and 3rd grade,
in the 2006-2007 school year.
Lincoln Elementary School in Twin Falls began offering single-sex classes to 6th-grade students in the 2003-2004 school year.
Single-gender classes are offered in all classes except for music, physical education, computers, and recess.
Top
Illinois
*Urban Prep Charter Academy is an all-boys charter high school launched in 2006 on the site of what was formerly Englewood High School,
on Chicago's South Side. The mission of the school is empowering young African-American men from low-income neighborhoods. The key figure behind
Urban Prep is Tim King, a dynamic young (b. 1966) African-American philanthropist who envisions a network of schools modeled after Urban Prep. Mr. King and Urban Prep were featured in an
article in Education Week about the growing popularity of single-sex education specifically for
at-risk African-American boys.
The Benjamin Mays Elementary Academy, on West Marquette Road in Chicago,
has been offering single-gender classes for boys and girls for four years. In 2001, only 19% of students
met state proficiency standards. In 2006, more than 89% of students met or exceeded state proficiency
standards, according to Assistant Principal Richard P. Glass Jr.
Robert Frost Middle School and Warren Palm Elementary School, both in Hazel
Crest, began offering single-sex classes in 2006-2007. Rich East High School in nearby Park Forest began offering single-gender classes to 9th-graders in the core subjects (math, science, English,
and social studies) in 2007-2008. Dr. Leonard Sax, executive director of NASSPE, led a two-day workshop for teachers from Robert Frost Middle, Warren Palm Elementary, and Rich East High School,
in August 2008.
Nearby, in Alsip, Eisenhower High School also began offering single-sex classes to 9th-graders
in 2007-2008.
Gregory Elementary School, on West Polk Street in Chicago, began offering single-sex classrooms in 2005.
Barton Elementary, in Chicago's Auburn Gresham neighborhood, offers some all-boys classes for 3rd-grade boys.
Highcrest Middle School, in Wilmette, offers some all-girls classes for 6th-grade girls.
The Stephen Gale Community Academy , in Chicago, began offering single-gender classes for students in grades 6, 7, and 8, in the 2007-2008 school year.
All three middle schools in the East St. Louis School District began
offering single-gender classes in math and science in 2005. Those three middle schools are
Lincoln Middle School, Clark Middle School, and Younge Middle School.
At Lincoln Middle School, single-gender classes are also offered in English.
The same district began offering single-sex classes for high school juniors
at East St. Louis High School in 2005-2006.
*The Young Women's Leadership Charter School , in Chicago, enrolls girls in grades 6 through
12. The school was launched in the fall of 2000. The school was modeled
on the Young Women's Leadership School in Harlem.
Top
Indiana
Riverview Middle School, in Huntington, began offering single-sex classes in the 2006-2007 school year. The change
in format led to improved test scores and attendance, as well as decreased discipline referrals. "It's a joy" to be in the all-girls
classroom, says teacher Jill Spenner.
Baker Elementary School in Wayland, began offering gender-separate classrooms in the 2008-2009 school year.
Edwardsburg Primary School, in Edwardsburg, began offering single-sex kindergarten in the 2006-2007 school year.
Smith Elementary, in Martinsville, has begun offering single-sex classes for 5th-graders in reading, language arts, and physical education.
"We were astounded" by the positive impact of single-sex classrooms, says teacher Janet Fendley. Fendley said that in the
physical education class, girls who had previously not participated now came off the sidelines to participate.
Harrison Hill Elementary, technically known as the "Harrison Hill School of Inquiry," offers
some all-boys classes in 2nd and 3rd grade. The school is located in Lawrence Township. Crestview Elementary, also in Lawrence Township,
will begin offering single-gender classrooms in the fall of 2009. In June 2009, teachers from both schools attended a two-day workshop led by Dr. Leonard Sax,
executive director of NASSPE, on best practice for single-gender classrooms.
Riverview Middle School in Huntington County, began offering single-sex classes in language arts,
for 6th graders, in the fall of 2006.
Clarksville Middle School began offering single-sex
classrooms for its seventh-graders in the fall of 2002.
New Washington Middle and High School, in the Greater Clark County school district,
began offering gender-separate classes in 2004-2005 for sixth-, seventh-
and eighth-graders in math, science, and social studies.
Parkview Middle School, also in the Greater Clark County school district, began offering single-sex classes for sixth-graders in 2004-2005. Beginning in 2005-2006, the program was
expanded to both sixth- and seventh-graders; beginning in 2006-2007, the single-gender program included all three grades.
Barker Middle School in Michigan City began offering gender-separate classes in core academic subjects, in the 2004-2005 school year, for 7th-graders only.
Single-gender classes have been available to both 7th- and 8th-graders since 2006.
Huntertown Elementary School , in Allen County, has begun offering single-sex classes to 5th-grade boys. They're already seeing how the single-sex format can break down gender stereotypes.
The boys appear eager to work on their baking skills, including baking Rice Krispie treats for a fund-raiser.
Roosevelt Middle School, in Monticello, began offering single-sex classes for sixth-graders in 2006 in language arts, science, math,
and social studies. "We found that with splitting up the boys and girls, both genders felt more comfortable asking questions
in class, and we were able to have some more interesting discussions than before," said language arts teacher Dana Hershey, according to a report in the
Monticello Herald Journal. "I can focus more," said student Allie Edwards. "I think a lot of times before, girls were too shy to ask questions because they were afraid of getting laughed.
They're not so much [shy] anymore."
Top
Iowa
The Cunningham School for Excellence
in Waterloo, has been offering single-sex classrooms since the spring of 2004.
The program at the Cunningham School involves students who are now in the second and third grades. The plan is to
continue the program with the same students, right through grade five.
The Logan Middle School, also in Waterloo, began offering single-sex math classes in 2004-2005.
Dr. Sax, executive director of NASSPE, has met with the teachers in Waterloo on two occasions to lead professional development workshops and
observe what's actually happening in the classrooms. He described some of his observations in a commentary for Education Week.
Top
Kansas
Banneker Elementary School and Quindaro Elementary School, both in Kansas City, Kansas began offering single-sex classes in 2006-2007.
Top
Kentucky
Lloyd Memorial High School in Erlanger began offering single-sex classes for freshmen and sophomores in the 2005-2006 school year.
The success of the program prompted Principal John Riehemann to expand the program to include juniors as well beginning in the
2007-2008 school year.
Ludlow Middle School, in Kenton County, began offering single-sex classes in the 2005-2006 school year.
Cravens Elementary School began offering single-sex classrooms in August 2005.
Foust Elementary School in Owensboro began offering single-sex classrooms in 2004-2005 and has expanded the program
on several occasions since. Foust Elementary now offers single-sex classrooms in the first, second, fifth, and sixth grades. Girls
and boys are separated in seven out of 18 classrooms.
Apollo High School, in Owensboro, began offering single-gender classrooms for 9th-graders in the fall of 2005. NASSPE
Board member Dr. Abigail Norfleet James led a workshop on best practices for single-sex classrooms for teachers at Apollo in August 2005.
Daviess County High School began offering single-sex classrooms in 2005.
Horse Branch Elementary School, in Ohio County (Kentucky) began offering
some single-sex classes for 4th- and 5th-graders, in August 2005.
Marshall County High School in Benton is offering two
sections of 9th-grade science in which girls and
boys are separated. The girls-only class is taught by Mrs.
Dusti Lamb, and the boys-only class is taught by Mr. Stacey
Bradley. Mr. Bradley recently notified us that "Mrs.
Lamb and I have noticed increased confidence among students
who would normally be reserved when participating in classroom
discussion and projects." Dr. Robert Lyons, Associate
Professor at Murray State University, is assisting the teachers
at Benton in assessing the effectiveness of this teaching
strategy. Mr. Bradley also told us that "other teachers
are gearing up to offer sections of single-sex Geography and
Social Studies."
Beaumont Middle School, in Fayette County, has been offering
single-sex classes for reading, language arts, math, science, and social
studies since 2002-2003.
At Two Rivers Middle School, in the Covington Independent
School District, seventh graders are divided into one team
that's single-sex, and one team that's coed.
The *Frederick Law Olmsted School - North, in Louisville, is an all-boys public school which adopted this format, and this name, in 2008.
Previously this school was known as the "Southern Leadership Academy" and had offered single-gender classrooms beginning in 2002.
Its sister school is *Frederick Law Olmsted School - South , an all-girls public school formerly known as Iroquois Middle School.
Cumberland County Middle School, in Burkesville, has been offering single-sex classes
since the 2003-2004 school year.
Harrodsburg Middle School in Mercer County, began offering
single-sex classes 2002-2003.
Jefferson Elementary School in Henderson, Kentucky,
has begun offering single-sex classes for their 4th-grade
students. Teacher Jackie
Ashby has already noticed progress. "It's a dream class,"
she says. "The girls are more focused in wanting to get
busy with work."
Russell County Middle School began offering single-sex classrooms for seventh-graders
in the fall of 2005. Beginning with the 2006-2007 school year, the program expanded to the eighth grade as well.
Seebree Elementary School in Webster County, Kentucky,
began offering single-gender classes in the 2003-2004
school year.
Top
Louisiana
Caddo Heights Elementary School, as well as J. S. Clark Middle School and Bethune Middle School, all in Shreveport, began offering single-gender classes
in the fall of 2009. Teachers at all three of these Caddo Parish schools participated in training workshops in August 2009 led by Dr. Leonard Sax,
executive director of NASSPE.
Sophie B. Wright Middle School is a charter school in New Orleans which offers single-gender classrooms in all three grades (6, 7 and 8).
*The Miller-McCoy Academy for Mathematics and Business is an all-boys public charter school which opened in the fall of 2008.
The challenges facing this school were chronicled in a September 2008 article in
Education Week.
Bayou Blue Middle School, in LaFourche Parish, began offering single-gender classes in 2009.
Gonzales Middle School, southeast of Baton Rouge, began single-gender classes in all grades
(6, 7, and 8) in August 2005. The principal at that time, Charles Barbera, reported that the program
has been very successful. Students are chosen by lottery to participate in the single-sex classes.
Parents "overwhelmingly" prefer the single-gender program, Barbera said.
Prescott Middle School, in Baton Rouge, began offering
single-gender classes in math and science for eighth-graders
in 2003-2004. The success of the program led the
school to expand the single-gender format to science
and social studies in subsequent years, as well
as expanding the program to include seventh-graders.
Prescott Math teacher Andria Joseph says boys shy away from participating
when girls are present. In an all-boys class, the boys perk
up, she said. "They feel like they're all in this together,"
Ms. Joseph said.
Girls benefit as well. Prescott English teacher Margaret Anton says
the girls stay more focussed. And she has an easier time bonding
with her class without boys around. "I talked to the
girls yesterday and asked them if they thought we could have
this closeness if there were boys around, and they said, No,"
she said.
*Capitol City Academy for Girls, and
*Capitol City Academy for Boys, both in Baton Rouge, are single-sex public charter high schools operated by Edison Learning, Inc.
Top
Maine
Lyseth Elementary School, in Portland, began offering single-sex classes for both girls and boys,
in 4th grade core subjects, beginning in 2006-2007.
Top
Maryland
Appeal Elementary, in Calvert County, began offering some single-gender classrooms in the fall of 2009.
*The Bluford Drew Jemison (BDJ) Academy is actually two academies: a public charter boys' middle school on North Caroline Street headed by Louis Gordon, and a public charter boys'
middle and high school on Herkimer Street headed by Monica Dailey. More information is available at the BDJ web site.
Drew-Freeman Middle School, in Suitland, began offering single-gender classrooms in 2009.
Albert Einstein High School, in Montgomery County, began offering an all-boys "honors" class targeting African-American and Hispanic boys, in 2009.
Boonsboro High School, in Boonsboro, began offering a single-gender program in 2006.
The program, known as the Academy, offers single-gender math, English, and science classes to the academic
top ten percent of students in 9th and 10th grades.
Pangborn Elementary School, also in Boonsboro, has begun offering some single-gender classrooms as well.
Baltimore Freedom Academy, a charter school on South Caroline Street in Baltimore City, began offering single-sex classes in the 2005-2006
school year. For the 2010-2011 school year, girls and boys are separate for most classes through 10th grade; classes in grades 11 and 12 remain coed.
*Western High School , founded in the 1840's in Baltimore, is today an academically-oriented all-girls magnet high school.
The student body is
racially and socioeconomically diverse. More than one-third
of the students qualify for subsidized school lunches. Nevertheless,
students' test scores consistently put Western High among
the elite of Baltimore high schools.
To go to Western High School's Web site, click here.
The *Baltimore Leadership School for Young Women, an all-girls public school operated under the authority of the Baltimore City Public School System, i.e. it is not a charter school. BLSYW
opened in the fall of 2009, enrolling 6th-grade girls. The
plan is to add one grade per year until the school is enrolling girls in grades 6 through 12.
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Massachusetts
Smith Leadership Academy in Dorchester is a charter school enrolling grades 6, 7, and 8. Science and math classes are
gender-separate for "nearly all" girls and boys.
Note: State law in Massachusetts makes it difficult for public, non-charter schools to offer single-sex classes. The leaders
of the state Legislature's Joint Committee on Education have indicated that they will consider enabling legislation allowing public non-charter
schools in Massachusetts to offer single-sex classes. The State Board of Education also has endorsed such enabling legislation.
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Michigan
*Detroit International Academy is an all-girls school, part of Detroit Public Schools, for girls in grades 9 through 12.
*Douglass Academy is an all-boys public school, also part of Detroit Public Schools, for high school boys. It is the "brother school" to the Detroit International Academy. Both schools are schools of choice, meaning
that students choose to attend.
*Ferguson Academy for Young Women is an all-girls public school, also
in the city of Detroit.
Windemere Park Charter Academy in Lansing Township is a charter elementary school which offers single-gender classrooms.
Baker Elementary, in Wayland, began offering single-gender kindergarten classrooms in the 2008-2009 school year.
Millside Elementary School in Algonac began offering single-gender classes for fourth-graders in 2009.
Clarenceville Middle School, in Livonia, began offering single-sex classes in 2006-2007.
Star International Academy, a charter school in Dearborn Heights, offers single-sex classes as well as coed classes; parents choose whether their
child will be enrolled in the single-sex or coed classes. The school, which has an enrollment of 1,200 students in grades K-12, was
recently named one of the 15 best charter schools in the country by the Charter School Growth Fund, a non-profit organization which supports charter schools.
Some families drive as much as an hour each way, every day, so that their child can attend this school.
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Minnesota
*Laura Jeffrey Academy is a girls' public charter middle school (grades 5 through 8) in St. Paul.
*The Minneapolis Academy in Minneapolis is a charter school which opened in September 2004.
The school is a "dual academy" middle school, enrolling grades 5, 6, 7, and 8. Girls are in all-girls
classrooms, boys in all-boys classrooms.
*BEST Academy is an all-boys public charter school serving a predominantly African-American neighborhood in Minneapolis. "BEST" is an acronym for "Boys [in] Engineering, Science and Technology."
Its sister school is the *S.I.S.T.E.R. Academy, an all-girls public charter school which opened in the fall of 2008. "S.I.S.T.E.R." is an acronym for "Sisters
In Science, Technology, Engineering & Rx (Medicine)."
*Adolescent Girls And Parenting Education (AGAPE) is an all-girls high school operated by St. Paul Public Schools, targeting primarily girls who are pregnant or who are already parents of young children.
Carver Elementary in Maplewood, began offering single-gender classrooms in the 2008-2009 school year. Dr. Leonard Sax, director of NASSPE, led a teacher-training
workshop at this school in April 2010. Teacher Tom Mealey says that he was originally inspired to launch the single-gender program
in part because of what he learned from Dr. Leonard Sax's book Boys Adrift: the five factors driving the growing epidemic of unmotivated boys and underachieving young men.
Nicollet Junior High School in Burnsville, is offering single-sex classes in science for 9th-graders. Early results were encouraging, so school officials have expanded the program to 8th-graders.
Cheryl Gores, who teaches both all-girls and mixed-gender classes at the school,
says that "What I've seen from the [all-girls] group and how they've changed
as students has been interesting and quite amazing. They've changed so much as students and become more confident." Ashley Biesemaier, a student in the all-girls class, says the
class has been a very positive experience. The previous year, when Ashley was in a coed class, she got an "F" in science. This year, in an all-girls class, she earned a "B."
She also made Honor Roll for the first time in her life.
University Academies for Boys and Girls at North End Elementary in St. Paul, offers single-gender classrooms
in grades K through 6.
Battle Creek Middle School, in St. Paul, began offering single-sex science classes for 7th-graders in the fall of 2005. The success
of the program prompted the administration to expand the single-sex format to English, math, and history in addition to science.
North High, in North St. Paul, offers single-gender classrooms for 9th-graders.
Valley View Middle School in Edina, began offering single-sex classes for eighth-graders in the fall of 2005.
Southview Middle School, also in Edina, began offering single-sex classes in the spring of 2006.
The Sunrise River School (formerly known as The Main Street School) in North Branch, Minnesota, began offering single-gender classes for 4th-grade students in the 2003-2004 school year.
Teacher Sue Howard told us that "the opinions of the parents and the students are overwhelmingly positive."
Central High School in Duluth began offering single-gender classrooms in 2009.
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Mississippi
Clarkdale Attendance Center, a K-12 public school about five miles south of Meridian, and literally straddling the border between Clark County and
Lauderdale County (hence the name 'Clarkdale') began offering gender-separate classrooms in the 2005-2006 school year.
In March 2006, Dr. Leonard Sax, director of NASSPE, led a professional development seminar for teachers involved in the program, as well
as for teachers leading coed classrooms.
Flowood Elementary School, northeast of Jackson, began offering gender-separate classrooms in August 2004.
At the invitation of the school district, Dr. Leonard Sax, director of NASSPE, led a professional development seminar for teachers involved in the gender-separate classrooms, in July 2004.
In its first year (2004-2005), students enrolled in the program improved compared to their performance the previoius year, and significantly better than
their 5th-grade peers at neighboring Northwest Rankin Middle School. All students in the single-sex program scored either proficient or advanced in reading; they also
made significant advances in language arts and math. The success of the program led Principal Barbara McCool to expand the program to include more grades and classrooms.
In the spring of 2009, we were notified that Oak Grove Central Elementary, in DeSoto County (northern Mississippi), offers same-sex (single-gender) classes for 5th-graders in some subjects.
Marianna Prather at the John C. Stennis Institute of Government, Mississippi State University, surveyed schools statewide which offered single-sex classrooms. She found
these additional schools which are offering single-sex classrooms:
Hunt Intermediate School, in the Columbus Municipal School District
Rowan Elementary School, in Hattiesburg
MaGee Middle School and Mendenhall Junior High School, both in Simpson County
Batesville Intermediate School, in the South Panola School District
Strayhorn Elementary and Strayhorn High School, both in Tate County.
Lipsey Middle School, in the Brookhaven school district.
Hickory Flats, in Benton County.
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Missouri
Carman Trails Elementary School, in St. Louis, began offering gender-separate classrooms in 2007. Teachers from Carman Trails attended two-day workshops
led by Dr. Leonard Sax, executive director of NASSPE, in 2007 and again in 2008. Carman Trails Elementary hosted Dr. Sax for the two-day workshop in June 2009; this workshop
was also attended by teachers from Ross Elementary, River Bend Elementary, and Claymont Elementary, all in the same school district, Parkway School District, in the western portion
of St. Louis County, in preparation for launching single-gender programs at their schools in the fall of 2009.
You can read a news story about the program at Carmen Trails at this link. The
success of the program led the TODAY show to do a segment on the school: you can watch streaming video of this segment,
hosted by Matt Lauer, at this link.
*The Imagine Academy of Academic Success, a public charter school in St. Louis, is a "dual academy," with single-gender classes in all grades and all subjects, grades K-8.
University Academy, a charter school in Kansas City,
began offering gender-separate classrooms in core subjects for 6th and 7th-graders in the 2003-2004 school year.
Field Elementary, in Columbia, began offering single-sex classes in 2006-2007, for 5th-graders only.
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Nevada
Manuel J. Cortez Elementary School, Ruben P. Diaz Elementary, and Silvestri Junior High School, all in Las Vegas, launched single-gender classrooms beginning with the 2007-2008 school year.
Cheyenne High School, also in Las Vegas, began offering some single-gender classes in August 2003, for ninth-graders.
The program expanded in 2006-2007, to involve 9th- and 10th-grade students in math, science, English, and social studies.
Dr. Leonard Sax, executive director of NASSPE, first led a professional development seminar for
teachers at Cheyenne High in August 2006. Dr. Sax returned to Cheyenne High School in August 2008 to lead another professional development seminar, this time
attended by teachers from Sunrise Acres Elementary, Monaco Middle School, Manuel J. Cortez Elementary, Ruben P. Diaz Elementary, Lowman Elementary and Frank Kim Elementary, all of which
began offering gender-separate classrooms in the 2008-2009 school year. Although this full-day workshop took place on the campus of Cheyenne High, it was hosted by administrators from
Manuel J. Cortez Elementary and from Ruben P. Diaz Elementary. Cortez Elementary
and Diaz Elementary now both offer gender-separate classrooms in every classroom in every grade, in grades 1 through 5.
Marion E. Cahlan Elementary School, in North Las Vegas, is administered by Edison Schools. The school began offering
single-gender classrooms in 2007-2008.
Mannion Middle School, also in Las Vegas, has been offering single-sex classes in English since 2006.
Desert Heights Elementary School in Washoe County began offering single-gender classes in 2007-2008. Hug High School in Reno began offering gender-separate classrooms in 2008-2009.
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New Mexico
Pojoaque Valley Intermediate School began offering single-sex classes in 2007.
Staff from the school attended an all-day training led by Dr. Leonard Sax,
executive director of NASSPE, in the spring of 2007.
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New York
In Buffalo, the Harriet Tubman School offers ONLY single-sex classes
for students in the 7th grade. Also in Buffalo, the Houghton Academy
offers single-sex classes for both 7th and 8th grade students.
Do not confuse Houghton Academy, P.S.69, with a private
school 75 miles away in Houghton, New York which is also called "Houghton Academy."
Also in Buffalo, the
Lincoln Middle School offers single-sex
classes for 7th- and 8th-grade girls and boys. Buffalo also has a charter school,
the Westminster Charter School, which offers single-sex classes.
*Green Tech Charter High School, in Albany, is an all-boys public high school which opened in the fall of 2008.
*Bronx Global Learning Institute for Girls is an all-girls public charter elementary school operated by Victory Schools; it opened in the fall of 2008.
*The Excellence Charter School of Bedford Stuyvesant is an all-boys elementary school
located in a low-income neighborhood in Brooklyn. The school enrolls boys in grades K-5.
*The Academy of Business & Community Development (ABCD) is an all-boys college preparatory school
which opened in 2005-2006 enrolling 6th grade boys. The school has added one grade each year, with the plan of
enrolling grades 6 through 12 beginning in 2011. More information is available at the school's web site.
*The Eagle Academy for Young Men opened in the Bronx (New York City) in August 2004.
The school targets at-risk African-American boys in grades 9 through 12. An affiliate, the Eagle Academy for Young Men in Ocean Hill, opened in Brooklyn in the 2008-2009 school year.
*The Young Women's Leadership School of the Bronx (New York City) opened in August 2004,
following the model of the [original] Young Women's Leadership School across town, in Harlem. For 2008-2009,
the school will enroll about 350 girls in grades 7 - 11. In 2009-2010, the school expects to enroll about 400 girls in grades 7 -12.
*The Urban Assembly Academy for
History and Citizenship for Young Men,
located in the Bronx, opened its doors in the fall of 2005. The school now enrolls young men in grades 9-12.
*The Urban Assembly School of Business for Young Women
is an all-girls high school which opened on the lower East Side of Manhattan in the fall of 2005.
*The Urban Assembly School for Criminal Justice for Young Women
is an all-girls high school which opened at 4200 16th Ave in Brooklyn in 2007. The school is adding one grade each year until it is a grade 6 - 12 school.
"Girls' Prep" refers to two separate charter public elementary schools for girls: *Girls Prep Lower East Side is located on E. Fourth Street on the lower East Side of Manhattan.
*Girls Prep Bronx is located at 681 Kelly Street in the Bronx. Both schools plan to add one grade each year until they enroll girls in grades K-5.
*The Urban Assembly Institute of Math and
Science for Young Women
is an all-girls middle school which opened in Brooklyn in the fall of 2006.
*The Brighter Choice Charter School for Girls and *The Brighter Choice Charter School for Boys are both
charter elementary schools located in Albany. Both schools were launched in 2002. The schools originally shared facilities.
However, effective August 2007, the Brighter Choice Charter School for Boys is now in a completely separate facility
located several blocks away from the girls' school.
*The Young Women's Leadership School at East 106th and Lexington, in Harlem,
occupies an important place in the history of single-sex public education in the United States.
In the fall of 1996, Anne Rubenstein Tisch helped the New York Public
School System establish a public single-sex girl's school, enrolling grades 7 through 12. The school population is 99% Black
and Hispanic. Girls come from all across the academic spectrum,
including some who were formerly in remedial classes. Most
are from impoverished families. Nevertheless: among the nine classes which have now graduated (2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009), almost every girl
has been accepted to a four-year college, and many of them have received full scholarships. Over 90% of the girls going to college are the first
in their family ever to go to college.
*The Young Women's Leadership School, Queens Campus began enrolling girls in grades 7, 8, and 9 in the 2007-2008
school year. The school will add one grade each year until it is enrolling girls in grades 7-12.
*The Young Women's Leadership School, Astoria Campus began enrolling girls in grades 7 and 8 for the 2007-2008
school year. Ultimately the school will enroll girls in grades 7-12, just like the other YWL school in Queens and the YWL Schools
in the Bronx and Manhattan.
Likewise, *The Young Women's Leadership School, Brooklyn opened in the fall of 2008, enrolling girls in grade 6.
The school will add one grade per year until it is a school serving grades 6 through 12.
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North Carolina
Rocky Mount Preparatory School, a public charter school, offers gender-separate classes in grades 6, 7, and 8. In June 2009, this school hosted a
two-day workshop for teachers leading single-gender classrooms. This workshop was attended not only by
teachers from North Carolina but also from Florida, Indiana, Nevada, and Ontario (Canada).
Page Primary School in Belmont began offering single-gender classrooms in 2009.
Kimberley Park Elementary began offering single-sex classes for students in grades 2, 3, 4, and 5, in the 2007-2008 school year. Melinda
Shrewsbury, curriculum coordinator at Kimberley Park Elementary, notified us that the teachers leading the single-sex classes all were reading the book
Why Gender Matters, written by NASSPE executive director Leonard Sax, to
help prepare for the challenge of leading single-sex classrooms.
Monroe Middle School in Monroe, began offering single-gender classes in 2009.
Elizabeth City Middle School, in Elizabeth City, began offering
single-sex classrooms in the spring of 2003 and has continued the program since then.
The success of the program in Elizabeth City led the Elizabeth City - Pasquotank Board of Education to introduce
a similar single-gender program at nearby River Road Middle School, also in Elizabeth City, beginning in 2006. "The message we got from Elizabeth City Middle School is that
the students [in the single-gender program] are more focused on academics," said River Road principal Carolyn Jennings.
The Sally Howard School for the Arts and Education in Wilson began offering single-sex classes in 2003-2004. In grades 4 through 6, there are three sections: one all-girls, one all-boys, and one coed.
In grade seven, most classes are single-sex; in grade eight,
all classes are coed.
*Middle College at Bennett
is the first all-girls public school in North Carolina. The girls' public high school is located on the historic campus of Bennett College for Women.
McDougle Middle School in Carrboro began offering single-sex classrooms for 7th-graders in January 2006, for math, science,
language arts and social studies. According to teacher Dorothy Works -- a veteran teacher with 31 years' experience -- "some students who had
never spoken up before have become frequent hand-raisers." The biggest improvements have been in the girls-only science classrooms and the boys-only
language arts classes.
The North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, a public magnet school in Durham, began offering an all-girls computer science class
in the fall of 2005.
East Iredell Middle School in Statesville, began offering
single-sex classes in science, social studies, and advanced
math for 7th-graders, in 2003-2004. Five teachers, leading
a total of 12 classes, are involved in the single-gender program.
*Middle College at NC A&T, in Guilford County, is an all-boys high school
launched in the fall of 2003.
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Ohio
In the summer of 2003, Stewart Elementary School was reinvented as the *Stewart Academy
for Girls, an all-girls neighborhood public school in a low-income neighborhood in Toledo. In the
2002-2003 school year, only 19% of the 4th-grade girls scored proficient on the state test. Over the subsequent
five years, more than 70% of the girls scored proficient, every year. There was no change in class size, no change in per-pupil funding.
Vice-Principal Suzanne Muggy gave a presentation describing her school's success at our 2007 NASSPE Conference
in Illinois. The success of this elementary school
clearly inspired Toledo Superintendent Eugene Sanders. When he became CEO of Cleveland
Public Schools in 2007, one of his first actions was to establish FOUR single-sex public schools
in Cleveland -- two on the East Side, two on the West Side -- which opened in the fall of 2007. The four single-gender elementary schools
which opened in August 2007 are:
- *Douglas MacArthur Girls Leadership Academy, 4401 Valleyside Road
- *Kenneth Clement Boys Leadership Academy, 14311 Woodworth Road
- *Valley View Boys Leadership Academy, 17200 Valleyview Avenue
- *Warner Girls Leadership Academy, 8315 Jeffries Avenue
The *Ginn Academy is an all-boys high school which opened in August 2007 in a renovated school building at 1740 E. 32nd St. in Cleveland.
Belden Elementary in Canton began offering single-gender classes in 2009.
*Charity Adams Earley Academy for Girls is an all-girls neighborhood elementary school which opened
in Dayton in August 2005. The success and popularity of the school prompted Dayton Public Schools to open
*Dayton Boys' Prep, an all-boys neighborhood elementary school, in the fall of 2006.
Dr. Leonard Sax, director of NASSPE, led professional development workshops for faculty for the girls' school in the summer
of 2005 and for the boys' school in the summer of 2006.
Massillon Middle School in Massillon, began offering single-sex classrooms for
5th- and 6th-grade in the 2006-2007 school year.
About one-third of 5th- and 6th-graders, chosen at random, participate in the single-sex program.
Single-sex classes are offered in
math, science, language arts and social studies. Electives remain coed.
Then-Principal Diane Lukac remarked in November 2006 that the program
was "exceeding expectations."
"Participation levels are high, discipline problems are down, and teachers are enjoying [the format]," she said.
"You go into an all-girls math class and every hand is in the air. You go into a mixed class and you don't see that."
Edison Elementary School, in Dayton, began offering single-sex classrooms in August 2005.
The Harry Davis Middle School, a middle school in East
Cleveland, began offering single-sex classes several years
ago. Principal Sherree Ray told reporter Jennifer Smith that the result has been higher test scores and
fewer discipline problems. "There are no more shenanigans,"
she said. "It's really powerful for both sexes."
Withrow University High School, in Cincinnati, offers single-sex classes for 9th- and 10th-graders.
Lincoln Elementary School in Toledo was reinvented in the fall of 2003 as
the *Lincoln Academy for Boys.
Southmoor Middle School in Columbus began offering single-gender classes in all grades in 2004-2005. Also in Columbus, Linden Elementary, the Africentric School, and East High School
offer some single-sex classrooms.
Arts IMPACT Middle School in Victorian Village (Franklin County) began offering single-sex classes, for seventh-graders only, in 2004-2005.
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Top
Oklahoma
McClain High School, in Tulsa, has offered single-gender classrooms in math and English since 2008. In June 2009, Dr. Leonard Sax, executive director
of NASSPE, led a two-day training workshop for teachers at the school about best practice for single-gender classrooms. He also led an evening event for parents, at which time he answered questions such as:
"The real world is coed; school should prepare kids for the real world; therefore school should be coed, right?" His presentation for parents was featured in
an article in the local Tulsa newspaper.
Gilcrease Middle School, also in Tulsa (and a feeder school for McClain High) also provides some single-gender classrooms.
In Oklahoma City, both Roosevelt Middle School and Tulakes Elementary School offer single-gender classrooms.
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Oregon
*The Harriet Tubman Leadership Academy for Young Women, in North Portland, launched in the 2007-2008 school year. The district also launched a boys' school at the same time, but
unfortunately they did not follow the NASSPE Checklist for launching a single-gender school. The district's recruitment efforts
were unsuccessful, and the boys' school was closed in the spring of 2009. We have learned a great deal at NASSPE about the importance of educating and empowering parents, particularly
about the benefits of the single-gender format for BOYS. If you fail to do that, your boys' program may fail due to lack of parent support, as happened in this case.
Gaston Junior High School, in Gaston, began offering single-gender classrooms in the fall of 2005.
"We have found that the kids get more involved if we segregate them by sex," said Mike Durbin, Gaston
principal, according to a report in 2006 by journalist Sophia Tareen in The Oregonian. "They seem more engaged."
The Community Schoolhouse, a charter high school in Salem, began offering
single-gender classrooms in the 2003-2004 school year. Students are in
gender-separate classes for math, science, history, and language
arts. Other classes are coed. Teachers use the same curriculum
for girls and boys, but they are able to customize their teaching
style to the gender of the students. School
director Tom DeJardin reports improvement
in the areas of discipline and attention. More than 300 students are on a waiting list for the 30 to 40 slots that open each year.
*The Mount Scott Learning Centers are an alternative middle
school in Portland. In the 2002-2003 school year, the school
experimented with single-gender classrooms, with good results
-- especially for the girls. Their math and reading scores
were 30 to 40 percent higher than the previous year's scores.
And the girls at the top of their classes had test scores
that "went through the roof," according to teacher
Michelle Wagner Coniff. "When the girls and boys are
together, they're both psychotic," says Jackie Nagel,
a counselor at Mt Scott. Parent Jeanie Shaw saw a vast
difference in her eight-grade daughter. "It's been amazing,"
said Shaw of her daughter, Sarah Leckron. "She does her
work. She goes to school every day. She doesn't cuss the teachers
out, she doesn't fight with the kids [anymore]."
You can learn more about the Mt. Scott Learning Centers at
the school's web site.
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Pennsylvania
McKinley Elementary School, in Erie, began offering single-sex classes in reading and math for 5th-graders, in 2006.
Nine public schools in Philadelphia offer single-sex educational opportunities.
One of those schools, the *Philadelphia High School for Girls, is a selective school.
Two of those schools -- Wright and Pratt -- are coed schools which offer single-sex classes.
Two other schools -- *Pepper and *Bethune -- are "dual academies", i.e.
schools which enroll both girls and boys but in which girls and boys attend separate classes for all subjects.
*Boys' Latin Philadelphia Charter School, (formerly
known as the Southwest Philadelphia Academy for Boys), opened in the fall of 2007.
The *Southwest Leadership Academy Charter School is another "dual academy" --
girls in girls' classrooms, boys in boys' classrooms -- which opened in the fall of 2007, initially enrolling grades K-3. This
school is operated by Victory Schools, which also operates Wright, Pratt, Pepper, Bethune, and Rhodes, also
in Philadelphia, The Southwest Leadership Academy Charter School is the only charter school operated by Victory in the city of
Philadelphia; the other Victory schools are all regular public schools. The remaining school operated by Victory Schools
-- *Rhodes High School -- has an all-female student body. *FitzSimons High School for Boys,
formerly operated by Victory Schools, has been returned to the jurisdiction of Philadelphia Public Schools as of 2009.
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South Carolina
South Carolina leads the nation when it comes to offering parents
the choice of single-sex education within public schools. In the spring of 2007, State Superintendent Jim Rex
asked David Chadwell, a member of the NASSPE Advisory Board,
to help coordinate single-gender initiatives statewide.
Mr. Chadwell became the first person appointed
to any statewide office anywhere in the United States with the primary mission of overseeing single-sex education in public schools.
As of November 2009, 173 public schools in South Carolina offer single-gender classrooms. For a complete and up-to-date list of those schools,
please visit the South Carolina Department of Education, Office of Single-Gender Initiatives,
which Mr. Chadwell directs.
Somewhat surprisingly, only two public schools in South Carolina -- the *Langston Charter Middle School, in Greenville,
and *Morningside Middle School in Charleston County -- count as single-sex schools,
with all students enrolled in single-sex classrooms. All the other schools on Mr. Chadwell's list are coed schools offering selected single-gender classrooms.
None of our counts include include the all-girls Willow Lane School or the all-boys Birchwood High (both in Columbia, South Carolina),
even though these schools are single-sex public schools, because both these schools are reserved primarily for girls who have been convicted
of a criminal offense or otherwise referred by the Department of Juvenile Justice.
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Tennessee
Under the leadership of principal LaTonya Mercer, LaGrange-Moscow Elementary School
(in west Tennessee, not far from Memphis) began offering single-gender classrooms in grades 3, 4, and 5, in the 2008-2009 school year.
Three middle schools in Sumner County began offering single-gender classes in the 2007-2008 school year: Hunter Middle School, White House Middle School,
and Portland Middle School.
Kingsbury Middle School, in Memphis, began offering gender-separate classrooms in 2007, in math, language arts, science and social studies. The principal at Kingsbury, Ronnie Mackin, spoke about
his school's experience at the 2008 NASSPE Conference in Memphis.
*Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy is a public charter school currently enrolling girls in grades 6 and 9; the plan is to add grades each year until the school enrolls girls in grades 6 through 12.
Robinson Middle School, in Kingsport, has been offering single-sex classes in all three grade levels
since the 2006-2007 school year. The school is using the book Why Gender Matters, by
NASSPE director Dr. Leonard Sax, as a guide for teachers in the single-gender classrooms.
Lanier Middle School began offering single-sex classrooms in the 2005-2006 school year, under
the leadership of principal Terrence Brown.
Booker T. Washington High School, in Memphis, began offering single-sex classrooms for girls and boys
in 9th grade in the fall of 2007, for all core classes: math, science, English, math, and social studies.
The Campus School is a Memphis public elementary school which offers some single-gender classrooms.
It's part of the Memphis school district,
but located on the campus of the University of Memphis and
operated by the University of Memphis College of Education.
Gwen Hewitt says the single-sex
classes have helped her daughter Tori Roseman to improve her
grades. "The positive synergy can't be equaled. It offers
the girls an opportunity to give each other support. They're
more directed and more focussed." Another mother, Edith
Gholson, agrees. "Girls who were shy, meek and mild are
beginning to take their positions as school leaders. They
don't defer to the boys." The school is already shattering
gender stereotypes. "I thought the boys would be real
competitive with each other," says art teacher Mary Larrick.
"But if someone doesn't understand the directions, they
are very, very helpful to each other. Their kindness toward
each other has impressed me."
Caldwell Elementary is another Memphis public elementary
school (K-5) which also has some single-sex classes.
West Cheatham Elementary, northwest of Ashland City,
began offering single-gender classes to 4th-graders in the
fall of 2003. According to principal
Amber Raymer, "The girls seem not to be as shy when answering
questions. The boys seem to be cooperating more with each
other."
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Texas
*The Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders opened in Austin in August 2007, enrolling 230 girls
in grades 6 and 7. The plan is to add one grade each year until the school becomes a grade 6 through 12 school.
Because of the great demand for places, a lottery was held to determine which girls would be allowed to attend.
No favorites: the granddaughter of Ann Richards herself applied for a spot, but lost out in the lottery.
*The Irma Lerma Rangel School
opened in August 2004 with girls in grades 7 and 8, adding one grade each succeeding year.
The school now enrolls girls in grades
6-12, with a full complement of Advanced Placement course offerings.
Like the Ann Richards School in Austin, the Irma Lerma Rangel School is associated with the
Foundation for the Education
of Young Women, which also supports the *San Antonio Young Women's Leadership Academy (in San Antonio of course), and the *Lubbock School for Young Women Leaders (in Lubbock).
Dr. Leonard Sax, NASSPE executive director, has led professional development training for teachers at the Irma Lerma Rangel School.
*Azleway Charter School is an all-boys public charter school in Tyler.
Ozen High School, in Beaumont, began offering single-sex classes for 9th-graders, in the 2007-2008 school year.
Metzger Middle School, in San Antonio (Judson ISD), began offering single-sex classrooms
in the 2004-2005 school year, under the leadership of principal Dawn Brown, and has expanded the program subsequently.
The Lowery Freshman Center, near Dallas, began offering single-sex classes in 2007-2008.
*Pro-Vision is an all-boys public school in Houston.
The school was founded by Roynell Young, who continues to serve as CEO. The full name of the school, which serves
boys in grades 6 through 8, is the
Pro-Vision All Male Charter Middle School. You can read an interview
with Roynell Young in the inaugural (2009) issue of Advances in Gender and Education.
The *William A. Lawson Institute for Peace and Prosperity Preparatory
Academy for Boys -- usually referred to as "the WALIPP
Prep Academy" -- is another all-boys school in Houston targeting at-risk African-American boys.
The *KIPP Polaris Academy is the third all-boys public school in Houston. KIPP Polaris
is a charter middle school which opened in the fall of 2007. Its sister school, *KIPP Voyage Academy for Girls, launched in the fall of 2009.
Janie Stark Elementary School, in the Carrollton-Farmers Branch school district, began offering single-sex classrooms in 2007-2008.
Zundelowitz Junior High School, in Wichita Falls, began offering single-gender classes in math in 2009.
Poe Middle School, in San Antonio (SAISD), has been offering single-sex classes
for the seventh and eighth grades since the 2003-2004 school year, in all the core subjects: language
arts, math, science, and social studies.
DeSoto West Junior High in DeSoto (a suburb of Dallas), began
offering single-gender classrooms in the fall of 2004.
Tennyson Middle School, in Waco, began offering
single-sex classes in 2006. In 2008, administrators reported that students in the single-gender classes were
achieving significantly better grades and test scores in the single-gender classrooms than they had achieved in coed classrooms.
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Virginia
Woodbridge Middle School in Woodbridge, Virginia, began offering gender-separate classes in the 2007-2008 school year. Dr. Leonard Sax,
executive director of NASSPE, led three training sessions for teachers at the school in the year leading up to the launch of the program. Dr. Sax also led a parents' forum
to address common questions and misconceptions about gender-separate education.
According to principal Skyles Calhoun, teachers are adapting well, and students are thriving.
"I was surprised at how different it is," said Jennifer Peel, who teaches several all-girl language arts classes and one co-ed class this year.
"I find that my teaching's a little different, even though I picked girls to teach because of my teaching style." Principal Skyles Calhoun will give a presentation
at the 2009 NASSPE conference, sharing what he has learned about how to launch and sustain such a program.
Forrest Elementary School, in Hampton, began offering single-sex classes for 3rd-grade boys in the 2005-2006 school year,
primarily in hopes of decreasing discipline problems. The "results exceeded expectations," according to Principal Sherry Buchanan,
so the school added a 4th-grade all-boys class and a 3rd-grade all-girls class for the 2006-2007 school year. Buchanan recalls seeing
positive results within weeks. Discipline referrals plummeted. (Students were randomly assigned to the
single-sex or coed classes, so the lower rate of discipline referrals in the single-sex classes cannot reflect a selection bias.)
Mechanicsville Elementary School, in Hanover County, launched single-gender classes
in their fourth grade, in August 2006. Nearby, Laburnum Elementary in Henrico County, also offers single-gender classrooms.
Under the leadership of principal Steven Parker, Cedar Lee Middle School in Bealeton began offering
single-sex classes in English and language arts, for eighth-graders, in the fall of 2005.
Culpeper Middle School in Culpeper, began offering single-sex classes for 8th-graders, only in English, in 2006-2007. "The girls
are much more willing to interact," says teacher Mindy McCallum. "They actually want to be in the class, which is huge."
Henderson Middle
School in Richmond has been offering single-gender classes
for 8th graders since 2003. Henderson Middle School has more
recently expanded the voluntary program to 6th- and 7th-grade classes. Core subjects
are in same-sex classes, while electives, physical education,
and lunch are coed.
Williamsburg Middle School in Arlington offers a "Science
for Girls" class for girls only.
Achievable Dream Academy in Newport News began offering
girls-only classes in the 2002-2003 school year, initially
just for math and science. "There's no doubt
it's better," says assistant principal David Creamer
of the single-sex format. "[The girls] are willing to
take risks and speak out" in the single-gender class.
Discipline referrals among the girls in the single-gender
group have dropped by 80% since the change in format.
Spratley Middle School, in Hampton Roads, began offering
single-gender classes for eighth-graders in fall 2003.
Patrick Henry Elementary in South Richmond has offered a boys-only class for several years.
(A girls-only class was discontinued because of lack of demand.)
Boys who are enrolled in the all-boys program usually begin in the third grade and stay through the end of fifth grade.
In the all-boys class, boys "are free to be themselves," teacher Greg Stallings says.
He drills the boys on the social graces, on behaving like gentlemen.
Stallings has observed that as the boys put his lessons into practice,
"they are getting noticed by the girls. . . The girls are gravitating toward my boys."
William Fleming High School in Roanoke began offering an all-boys American Literature class, and an all-girls
geometry class, in 2007-2008.
Top
Washington
Heritage High School, in Clark County, began offering single-gender classrooms in 2006-2007,
in science, English, and history. Teachers have documented academic improvement in all three sections
(two female, one male). Teacher Matt Johnson adds that "the guys are far less likely to put each other down"
in the all-male classroom. "They are a lot more compassionate because there are no females to impress."
Camas High School began offering single-sex classes in 2006-2007.
Washington Middle School, in Olympia, offers single-gender classes in selected subjects for sixth-graders. The school has offered girls-only technology classes since the late 1990's.
The success of that program led the school to expand the gender-separate format into other classes.
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West Virginia
The Stonewall Jackson Middle School, on Charleston's West Side, began offering single-gender
classes in core subjects for all grades in the fall of 2004. Carol Thom, director of professional
development for Kanawha County Schools, notified us that the good results at Stonewall Jackson led
East Bank Middle School and Dunbar Middle School
to launch single-sex classrooms beginning in 2006.
When Leonard Sax, director of NASSPE,
led a professional development seminar for Kanawha County Schools in the fall of 2006, and again
in the spring of 2007. His workshop was attended not only by faculty from Jackson Middle, East Bank Middle, and Dunbar Middle, but also from
Anne Bailey Elementary in St. Alban's and Glenwood Elementary
in Charleston which have also begun offering single-sex classrooms. In the summer of 2009, Dr. Sax returned to
Anne Bailey Elementary to lead a workshop for teachers, and to speak to parents.
Independence Middle School in Coal City (near Beckley) began offering single-gender classrooms in the fall of 2009. Dr. Leonard Sax,
director of NASSPE, led a training workshop for teachers at Independence Middle in August 2009, and also spoke to parents at an evening forum.
Top
Wisconsin
Marshall Middle School in Janesville began offering single-sex classes for 6th and 8th graders in
the 2007-2008 school year. Both NASSPE Executive Director Leonard Sax as well as
NASSPE Advisory Board member David Chadwell have led professional development seminars at Marshall Middle School to help the teachers prepare for single-sex classrooms.
Somerset Middle School in Somerset, began offering single-gender classes for fifth-graders in the 2008-2009 school year; the school is using Dr. Sax's book Why Gender Matters
as a guide.
Robinson Elementary School, in Beloit, began offering single-gender classrooms in the 2008-2009 school year.
Tomah Middle School, in Tomah, began offering single-sex classes in pre-algebra, in the 2006-2007 school year.
Student Kayla Marnach approves. "You don't have the boys messing around," she says. "I just think it's a bit more relaxed
without boys in the room," says her classmate Adria Gebhardt.
John Long Middle School, in Grafton, began offering single-sex classes for 8th-graders in 2006-2007.
Plymouth High School, in Plymouth, began offering an all-boys literature class in 2008.
Arrowhead High School, in Merton, began offering single-sex classes in 9th-grade English
and 10th-grade biology in 2006-2007.
Kennedy Middle School, in Germantown, has been offering all-boys classes in reading and social studies
since 2001. This program is unusual in that the school has never offered any corresponding all-girls class.
*The Spectrum High School for Girls in Milwaukee targets at-risk high-school girls. The school
enrolls about 100 girls.
The school was originally launched as a non-profit private
undertaking in 1975, but became part of the Milwaukee Public
School system in 1992.
Fond du Lac High School began offering single-sex classrooms for 9th-graders in 2006-2007.
Osceola Middle School began offering some gender-separate classrooms in the 2008-2009 school year.
Burlington High School, in the Burlington Area School District, began offering biology as an all-boys or all-girls class
in 2007. Dr. Leonard Sax, executive director of NASSPE, led a full-day workshop for all teachers at the high school
in 2007.
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