Single-sex schools might be a good option in Washington state

Dillon Elledge, 8, right, and Brody Kemble, 7, second from right, work with flash cards in their all-boys classroom at Middleton Heights Elementary in Middleton, Idaho. Middleton is believed to be the only public school in Idaho offering all-boy and all-girl classrooms, though the movement is widespread in other states and is now being targeted by the American Civil Liberties Union in a bitter struggle over whether single-gender learning should be continued. (AP Photo/Jessie L. Bonner)

Single-sex classes began proliferating after the U.S.
Education Department relaxed restrictions in 2006. With
research showing boys, particularly minority boys, are
graduating at lower rates than girls and faring worse on
tests, plenty of schools were paying attention.

In 2002, only about a dozen schools were separating the
sexes, according to the National Association for Single
Sex Public Education, an advocacy group. Now, an estimated
500 public schools across the country offer some all-boy
and all-girl classrooms.

But it’s against Washington state law to separate genders.

Proponents argue the separation allows for a tailored
instruction and cuts down on gender-driven distractions
among boys and girls, such as flirting. But critics decry
the movement as promoting harmful gender stereotypes and
depriving kids of equal educational opportunities. The
ACLU claims many schools offer the classes in a way that
conflicts with the U.S. Constitution and Title IX, a
federal law banning sex discrimination in education.
Researchers also have weighed in.

Dr. Leonard Sax, the founder of the National Association
for Single Sex Public Education, tells Dori we’ve gone
from a culture where
it’s cool to be working harder to get an A in math, to a
culture where it’s cool to be an ex-convict. He believes
single
sex schools do better at promoting the scholarly culture.

“At most co-ed schools, it is unusual to find that the top
football player is also writing poetry for the school
journal and wants you to know that. At a boys school, it
is
common; you can do both.”

Sax says high school girls taking computer
science classes have dropped dramatically in the past 20
years.

“We are teaching computer programming in a way that is
interesting only to boys,” Sax says. “It’s not that girls
can’t do computer science, it’s because they don’t want
to. It’s taught in a way that is friendly to boys. It’s
not that boys can’t do creative writing, it’s that they
don’t want to.”

Sax says the difference between girls and boys is not
inability, but in motivation.

There is hope for Washington, according to Sax. He says
Jonathan Kellet, principal at Jason Lee Middle School
in
Tacoma, is working with Senator Debbie Regala (D) to get
single
sex classrooms legalized so that it’s at
least an option.

Your thoughts from
Facebook:

Jonathan Gerber While I’ve never been in a single-
sex
schoolroom setting, I can say, that as a boy, I was rather
enamored with the opposite sex, and if in the same room
with
a pretty girl, I couldn’t focus at all. I love this idea.
They did it for years in English schools and universities,
why not go back to it?

Brandon Shropshire Good, it might curtail all the
kids having kids.

Jason Osborne I have to agree with Jonathan. I’m
still distracted by girls at work 😀

Daniel Finnigan As long as the education is equal,
I
say go for it!

By Stephanie Klein, MyNorthwest.com
The Associated Press contributed to this report.