Impact of Single-Sex Schools in Question

November 15, 2011

Impact of Single-Sex Schools in Question 

A recently published report in the September 2011 issue of the journal Science, questions the effectiveness of Singe-Sex education for improving student performance. The Pseudoscience of Single-Sex Schooling, Halpern, et al. examined the available research on the topic and found no well designed studies to support educational benefits from this structural intervention, despite recent interest in segregating the sexes in schools. The number of single gender public schools grew from fewer than a dozen in 2001 to about 550 by the end of the decade. This study supports research conducted by the depart of education as well as international research of Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) data that found little evidence for single-sex education demonstrating improvement in student achievement.