Boarding Schools for Girls

A middle school in Virginia is among the most recent public schools to incorporate single-sex classrooms in an effort to enhance the learning environment for both male and female students.

A Feb. 17 article by Tisha Thompson of foxla.com provided the following details about effect that the gender-specific initiative at Virginia's Woodbridge Middle School is having on female students in one teacher's math classes:

"Before, the girls never spoke up," [Math teacher Sara McLaughlin] said. "They never talked. It was the boys that dominated the class." Now, McLaughlin says she gets lots of girls volunteering, like sixth grader Erin Andre. "Boys they can just make you feel so little. And you don't have to feel so little in here."

Teaching methods are different. Girls always work with partners or in groups. We do more girly type things like I'll try and use an example of going to the mall," says McLaughlin.

In between problems the girls get a surprise quick break to chat with friends. But then, its right back to the numbers, without the distraction of boys. "Now in my math class I feel like the entire 90 minutes is focused on math," says McLaughlin.

Labels: single-sex education, math

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Teachers of young children who believe that girls are not talented at math tend to communicate that stereotype to their female students. These students, in turn, do more poorly at math than students of teachers who do not have such stereotypes, according to a new study from the University of Chicago.

Professors Sian Beilock and Susan Levine studied 17 first and second grade female teachers at the beginning and end of a school year. Some of them expressed a lack of confidence in their own abilities in mathematics.

"The more anxious the teachers were about math, the more likely it was that girls believed, 'Boys are good at math and girls are good at reading,'" the authors said in a report presented before the Proceedings of the National Academies of Science.

Worried that your daughter's teachers may be providing her with substandard motivation, feedback and support? Learn more about the many effective girls' boarding schools that are dedicated to developing healthy, happy and highly educated young women.

Labels: school, math, teachers

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Nearly a century and a half after it was established, a program to empower girls and young women continues to employ innovative efforts to help participants overcome obstacles and achieve personal and professional successes.

Michaele Weissman profiled Girls Inc. in the Winter 2009 edition of ForbesWomen magazine:

Girls Inc [is] a national research, education and advocacy organization. The 145-year-old nonprofit was founded during the Industrial Revolution to help young women who migrated from rural areas to work in textile mills and factories.

Today Girls Inc. programs and efforts are focused on the problems that continue to limit the aspirations of girls, especially those who grow up poor.

Three-quarters of the group's members come from families with incomes of $30,000 or less, and nearly 70 percent are minorities. Half of them come from single-parent households. &

Girls Inc. programs teach young women how to resist peer pressure, respect their bodies and their health, prevent teen pregnancy and excel in math, science and technology.

Labels: mentoring, math, technology, science

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In honor of the 37th anniversary of Title IX (which expanded female students' access to educational services and activities), the U.S. Department of Education announced the awarding of $2.4 million in grants to help girls in math and science.

According to a June 23 DoE press release, the grants were awarded to 13 organizations that are dedicated to raising math and science proficiency among female high school students:

The four-year grants were made under the Women's Educational Equity Act Program within the Department of Education. The program provides financial assistance to enable educational agencies to meet the requirements of Title IX.

The grantees were selected from 63 eligible applicants. Grantees received additional points if their projects included activities to help at-risk students meet challenging state academic standards and graduate. All of the awardees will serve females at the secondary level.

One of the grant recipients is the Pittsburgh Public Schools, which will receive $163,559 to track 348 female students for four years (grades nine to 12) as they complete courses of study that are focused on math and technical education.

Labels: math, science, academic performance

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