The Impact of Single-Sex Education on Male and Female Gains in Mathematics and Reading at the Elementary Level in a Selected School in North Carolina

摘要

The gender gap in achievement and the increasing awareness of differences between male and female cognitive development have ignited a growing interest in single-sex education. No Child Left Behind legislation and amendments to Title IX legislation have increased the number of schools in America offering single-sex education.This 2-year quasi-experimental explanatory mixed methods study explores the impact of single-sex education on an economically disadvantaged schoolu27s fifth-grade studentsu27 academic gains in mathematics and reading achievement in comparison to their peers in demographically similar coeducational classrooms in the same school.Quantitative data were collected from standardized state test scores in reading and mathematics for the participating studentsu27 fifth-grade year. One yearu27s worth of growth was calculated using the studentsu27 prior yearu27s standardized test scores as baseline data. Statistical tests, including univariate ANOVAs, repeated measures ANOVAs, t -tests, and chi-square tests, were used to determine whether there were any statistically significant differences between the various groupsu27 growth in reading or mathematics that could be attributed to the gender composition (coeducational or single-sex) of the classes. In addition, qualitative data were collected through interviews with the participating fifth-grade teachers. The qualitative data explored the teachersu27 perceptions of how the gender composition of their classrooms impacted their studentsu27 growth in reading and mathematics.Most of the statistical analyses reveal nonsignificant findings regarding the impact of single-sex education on academic gains. However, a deeper exploration of the descriptive statistics and qualitative data supports further research on single-sex education. While not always statistically significant, the single-sex classes tended to make larger gains in both mathematics and reading than the coeducational classes and subgroups. This is especially true for males in reading. Both years of the study revealed higher gains for single-sex males in this subject area. In addition, qualitative data from teacher interviews revealed teachersu27 support of single-sex education. These teachers believed that single-sex education had a positive impact on student gains in mathematics and reading. They noted that their students seemed more comfortable, asked more questions, and participated more often in single-sex classes.This study adds to the limited body of research on single-sex education and provides reason to experiment with the strategy; analysis reveals no downside to single-sex education or support for coeducation. It suggests that with larger sample sizes there may be more findings revealing statistically significant differences favoring single-sex classes.