Newsletter 10.07 Single-sex Education Environments "Research shows that some students may learn better in single-sex education environments," according to U.S. Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings. "The Department of Education is committed to giving communities more choices in how they go about offering varied learning environments to their students. ... Every child should receive a high quality education in America and every school and district deserves the tools to provide it." There are more than 360 public schools in the United States that now offer some type of single-sex education class. There may be some good reasons to consider it. The idea is that by separating girls and boys (especially when they are in their early teen years) lessons might be more effective. There is some research that shows boys don't hear as well as girls. Other research indicates attention span differences between the sexes. By tailoring the lesson specifically to boys or to girls, some teachers are finding success both in terms of how quickly new concepts are learned as well as how long the learning is retained. In addition, there is some evidence that discipline problems decrease when the sexes are divided. Previously, Title IX regulations mostly prohibited single-sex classes and extracurricular activities in public and private coeducational schools. There were, however, some exceptions such as for physical education classes involving contact sports or sex education classes. New federal regulations expand upon this exception and make it easier for schools to offer single-sex classes. The new regulations do not require single-sex education, but do make it easier for educators to offer, and parents and students to choose, single-sex educational opportunities while upholding nondiscrimination requirements. Enrollment in a single-sex class must be completely voluntary and a substantially equal coeducational class in the same subject must be provided. South Carolina is becoming a leader in same-sex classes. David Chadwell is the coordinator of the state's "Single-Gender Education" department. His department has started publishing a newsletter that might be helpful for teachers new to the single-sex classroom. In it you can read "Stories from the classroom," anecdotal descriptions of classroom experiences from teachers of these classes. Also included are "Single-Gender Lesson Plans." The section on "Books to Use from People Who Are using Them" might be a valuable tool if you or your school is thinking about creating some single-sex classes. The "National Association For Single Sex Public Education" (NASSPE) is a non-profit organization dedicated to the advancement of single-sex public education for both girls and boys. NASSPE serves three functions in this regard: It provides professional development opportunities for teachers, sharing the latest research about different teaching strategies for girls and boys. It provides a resource for teachers, parents and administrators considering single-sex educational programs. It provides a clearinghouse for relevant facts and information about public schools and classrooms in the United States. To be sure, the issue of single-sex education is a controversial one. The president of the National Organization of Women, Kim Gandy, has come out firmly on the "NO" side. "'Separate but equal' has never really been equal for girls, and that has been true of recent experiments with single-sex schools. Segregation was wrong in the past, and it's wrong now," said Gandy. "It advances one group while the other is 'left behind' -- to use a Bush administration term. Women have made great advancements in our society, thanks in part to Title IX, and we must not abandon that commitment to ending discrimination against women." The Advantage Press, Inc. publishes a number of behavior improvement packets that can help teach students the importance of following classroom rules.