Boarding Schools for Girls

A May 22 editorial in the Dallas Morning News indicates that the paper's leaders are impressed with the results that have been achieved by students of the state's first all-girls public school:

Five years after the Dallas [Independent School District] embarked on a controversial experiment in single-sex education, the all-girl Irma Lerma Rangel Leadership School is about to graduate its first senior class. Judge for yourself whether the experiment has paid off:

• Last year's Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills score averages for this class ranged from a low of 94.1 percent, in science, to 100 percent, in writing.
• One hundred percent of the senior class, 21 girls, will receive diplomas.
• All 21 graduates are college-bound.
• The total value of scholarships they've received will exceed $1 million.

Such results have failed to halt a national debate over the merits of educating boys and girls in separate schools, but they nonetheless suggest this South Dallas magnet school has a success formula worth emulating.

As single-gender education makes small inroads within the nation's public schools, a number of private boarding schools for girls -- such as the Bromley Brook Boarding School for Girls in Manchester Center, Vermont -- continue to set the standard for offering a wide range of academic support, intensive therapeutic services, and an unmatched level of comprehensive care for adolescent and teen girls.

Labels: single-sex education, public-schools, girls

Posted By: Aspen/CRC