Girls Get Better Grades in Single-Sex Classes
Graduates of All-Girls Schools Have Stronger Academic Performance
Girls educated in single-sex schools will be smarter, more work oriented, have higher confidence levels, and be more inclined to take up a career path. That’s the conclusion of a study carried out at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA).
Comparison of Freshman Survey Reports
Researchers at UCLA studied data “from the annual Freshman Survey, administered by the Cooperative Institutional Research Program at the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA.” They compared the responses “of 6,552 female graduates of 225 private single-sex high schools with those of 14,684 women who graduated from 1,169 private coeducational high schools.”
The results were published on March 19, 2009, in a 100-page report: “Women Graduates of Single-Sex and Coeducational High Schools: Differences in their Characteristics and the Transition to College.”
Studying Harder and Longer at Single-Sex Schools
The report states: “Female graduates of single-sex high schools demonstrate stronger academic orientations than their coeducational counterparts across a number of different categories, including higher levels of academic engagement, SAT scores, and confidence in mathematical ability and computer skills.”
The study habits of those from single-sex schools are better: “Nearly two-thirds (62 percent) of single-sex independent school alumnae report spending 11 or more hours per week studying or doing homework in high school, compared with less than half (42 percent) of female graduates of coeducational independent schools.”
Lead researcher Linda J. Sax, associate professor of education, says the improved work ethic will serve students well when they encounter the higher demands of post-secondary education. However, Ms. Sax cautioned that, “it remains to be seen whether these advantages are sustained once they are immersed in a coeducational college environment.”
More Female Engineers in the Future
One of the interesting findings of the study is that girls from single-sex schools show a greater interest in a career in engineering. “Alumnae of single-sex independent schools are three times more likely than those from coeducational independent schools to report that they intend to pursue a career in engineering (4.4 percent vs. 1.4 percent).”
The report also says the single-sex school graduates show higher levels of interest in political engagement, demonstrate more self-assurance in public speaking, and show more confidence in math and computer skills.
And their “SAT composite scores (verbal plus math) were 43 points higher for female single-sex graduates in the independent school sector and 28 points higher for single-sex alumnae in the Catholic school sector.”
Boys Might Benefit from Single-Sex Education
The UCLA study, which was funded by The National Coalition of Girls’ Schools, did not look at boys-only education. However, Dr. Leonard Sax has examined this in his 2009 book Boys Adrift [Basic Books]. Interviewed by Marina Jiménez of The Globe and Mail (April 21, 2009), Dr. Sax is quoted as saying, “Social construction of gender stereotypes can be broken down in single-sex classrooms. The jocks and the geeks can become one and the same.”
There is more and more interest developing in educating males and females separately as a strategy for improving the performance of both sexes.
As the product description on Amazon.com for Dr. Sax’s book points out: “While Emily is working hard at school and getting A’s, her brother Justin is goofing off. He’s more concerned about getting to the next level in his videogame than about finishing his homework.”
Greater Computer Confidence in All-Girls Class
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