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Lauren McCollum

Lauren McCollum, Editorial Director
Lauren graduated from Princeton University with a major in English and has recently completed her coursework at NYU for an MFA in Creative Writing. Before joining TeachersCount, she worked as a freelance writer and veterinary technician in Brooklyn. Her work has appeared in Poetry, Willard & Maple, and New Millennium Writings.

Single-Sex Education

New York, February 22, 2007— From 1975 until very recently, single-sex instruction in public schools was limited to courses like gym class and sex-ed. However, a recent relaxation of Title IX regulations by the U.S. Department of Education will allow public school districts to implement single-sex schools and courses anytime they feel it will raise student achievement, as long as they provide “substantially equal” opportunities to each sex. In an informal online poll that took place from December, 2006, to February, 2007, visitors to TeachersCount.org were asked whether they agreed, disagreed, or had mixed feelings about the new ruling.

In all, there were 419 respondents, of whom 226 described themselves as educators. Overall, 37.9% strongly agreed with the new rule; 19.1% somewhat agreed; 5.5% somewhat disagreed; 14.6% strongly disagreed; and 22.9% had mixed feelings.

However, there was a noticeable disparity between the opinions of educators and the general population. Of educators, 45.1% were strongly in favor of the new rule, whereas only 29.5% of non-educators shared that opinion. Conversely, non-educators were also more likely to somewhat or strongly disagree with the new rule. 23.3% of non-educators had a negative opinion of the rule, compared to 17.2% of educators. Still, overall, fewer than 20% expressed explicitly negative views on the change.

The poll invited respondents to comment and many of them did. Below is a sampling of comments arranged by response.

“I strongly agree with the new rule”—37.9%
  • “I am a high school teacher who occasionally has a class that is single-gender or nearly so. There is often a wide disparity between the behavior and achievement levels I witness in those classes versus traditional classes, and the results are generally positive. Timid students are much less inhibited when there is only one gender present, and students who feel the need to be noticed by the opposite gender are more restrained. There is often a feeling of genuine camaraderie between the students in a single-gender class.”
“I somewhat agree with the new rule”—19.1%
  • “I feel that so much socializing goes on that kids cannot focus. On the other hand, the social aspects of school can make children like school and want to go.”
  • “Having attended a single-sex college and having taught at a single-sex high school, I believe they offer young people the chance to excel without the pressure of social interaction. At the same time, since the outside world is not single-sex, these schools do create artificial environments.”
“I have mixed feelings about the new rule”—22.9%
  • “I feel that in some cases 'substantially equal' opportunities will not be provided even under the best of intentions.”
“I somewhat disagree with the new rule”—5.5%
  • “It may be a great opportunity for both sexes. However, it may also turn into the old boys’ network that is present in colleges and has been a problem for years.”
“I strongly disagree with the new rule”—14.6%
  • “Separate but equal is a claim we've heard before, and it doesn't work. Even if the programs are ‘substantially equal,’ which is unlikely, it encourages all participants to segregate and separate themselves from other people in a time when we need to learn to do the opposite.”