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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All-boys' schools do not foster an overly masculine environment. Instead, boys in single-sex schools are freer to express their emotions and engage in subjects such as art dance and music, according to new research presented at the International Boys' Schools Coalition in London.

• Abigail Adams of the University of Virginia found that boys often lose confidence in their academic abilities after competing with girls in the early grades.
  
• Girls that age have an advantage in verbal skills and reading ability.
  
• Boys can often benefit from "boy friendly" ways of teaching.
  
• For example, since boys have better spatial skills, better vision, and are usually more impulsive and physically active, they may benefit from hands-on lessons, where they are allowed to move around.

"In the present sexualized atmosphere prevalent in mixed schools, boys feel coerced into acting like men before they understand themselves well enough to know what that means," according to the report.

Tony Little, headmaster of Eton School, said that teachers do not always recognize that boys can be more emotional than girls.

Labels: single-sex education, boys

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One of two candidates in a Dec. 1 runoff election for mayor of Atlanta, Georgia, used part of a Nov. 30 radio broadcast to promote her familiarity with  and support of  single-sex schools and other innovative educational approaches.

A Nov. 30 article by Atlanta Journal Constitution political reporter Jim Galloway included the following comments from mayoral candidate Mary Norwood:

I have been a strong advocate for charter schools. I've been a strong advocate for innovation. & I do love people being able to think outside the box and have some different rules. ... Other cities have many more charter schools than Atlanta does right now, and we have buildings that are vacant.

We need to be very thoughtful about what our resources are, and how we can best educate our children. ... I'm also a big proponent of single-sex schools. I went to a girls college for two years, and I understand the difference in single-sex education.

Labels: colleges, advocacy, single-sex education, girls school, politics

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Sixty-five high school students from three Rochester, N.Y.-area schools are participating in innovative single-sex science classes that are taught by graduate students from the University of Rochester.

According to a Nov. 30 article by Democrat and Chronicle staff writer Nestor Ramos, the program  which began in 2003 as an after-school opportunity for middle-schoolers  is provides the girls with hands-on learning opportunities, high-level instruction and a supportive environment:

The girls meet for 90 minutes every Thursday to work on hands-on projects, answering science questions of their own devising. This years theme is "Shrinking Our Footprints: Exploring the Science Behind Walking in Balance." The students will present the results at a public forum Dec. 5. &

Keeping Science STARS all female makes sense because boys in science classes tend to dominate the equipment, and teachers involuntarily focus their attention on the boys, asking challenging questions and directing more instructional energy their way, [UR assistant professor April Luehmann] said.

Its easier to focus in an all-girl class, ninth-grader Cornelia Joseph said. "It's a girl thing."

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

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An effort to introduce single-sex classrooms into public elementary schools in South Carolina is proving to be popular with students, parents and school administrators. A Nov. 13 article by Jerrita Patterson of MidlandsConnect.com provided the following information about this educational initiative:

Statewide more than 5,000 students take part [in single-sex classes]. And a new survey indicates more parents would like their kids in the program.

"Educationally we put boys and girls together, but what do we do in the sports world and the athletic world?" said Killian Elementary Principal Eric Brown. "We don't necessary put kids on the same football field, we don't put boys and girls on the same baseball field."

Brown is using a new game plan, and more than 150 other South Carolina schools are doing the same. Single-gender classes get the passing grade from students and teachers. &

"We believe in educating the whole child, we focus on character building," said Taylor. "And one of the things that increased with the single gender classrooms was confidence and that's so important."

Labels: single-sex education, public-schools

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A private girls school in Virginia has received what the school claims is the largest single donation in the history of private girls schools. An Oct. 14 press release provided the following details about the donation:

Chatham Hall, an internationally renowned girls' boarding school, has received a $31 million gift from the estate of alumna Elizabeth Beckwith Nilsen, Class of 1931. This is the largest single gift to any girls' independent school.

According to Dr. Gary Fountain, Rector and Head of Chatham Hall, "Mrs. Nilsen's gift is transformational for the School. What remarkable generosity,and what a powerful statement about women supporting girls' education. Mrs. Nilsen's generosity is a head of school's dream."

Mrs. Nilsen directed that her gift be placed into an unrestricted endowment fund. Her gift came to Chatham Hall following the death of Mrs. Nilsen's husband, Robert A. Nilsen, in March 2009. Mrs. Nilsen, who predeceased her husband, died in October 2006.

Labels: single-sex education, girls, private school

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A new public school within the Los Angeles Unified School District has the unique designation of being the only LAUSD school to provide single-sex classrooms for all academic subjects.

According to an Oct. 5 article by Los Angeles Times staff writer Connie Llanos, the only time the 750 students who attend Young Oak Kim Academy Middle School will be in a mixed-gender environment will be during lunch:

"This is yet another element of reform," school board President Monica Garcia said. "We have to try as many strategies as possible to see what helps our students excel and grow ... We cannot continue to do one-size-fits-all."

A three-year study conducted by Stetson University in Florida found that ... students in all-girl classes earned a 75 percent score, compared with 59 percent proficiency among girls in coed classes.

At YOKA, educators have taken the program a step further, creating separate lesson plans for boys and girls.

Because research shows that adolescent girls thrive in groups and learn well in lectures, teachers at YOKA assign the girls a lot of collaborative projects. There's also an emphasis on math, science and technology [for girls] because girls traditionally do not pursue these fields as aggressively as boys do.

Labels: single-sex education, public-schools

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According to a Sept. 6 article by Kristen Sell of channel WOWK-13, some students at Van Devender Middle School in Parkersburg, W. Va., will be taught in gender-specific classrooms beginning with the 2010-2011 academic year:

Starting in 2010, sixth grade students will be involved with gender based education in core classes.
Boys will be taught one way, while girls will be taught another because of the way we learn. The staff has gone through intensive training and the changes will be phased in slowly in order to ensure the success of the program.

"There are more than 500 public schools across [the country] that currently used gender based education as a way to teach students," Sell reported.

Labels: single-sex education, public-schools

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Back to school time came a bit earlier than usual for the 75 students who comprise the inaugural student body of The Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy.

According to a July 27 article on the website of The Chattanoogan, Tennessee's first all-girls charter school officially opened its doors July 27:

The year-round and tuition-free public charter school offers a college preparatory curriculum focused on science, technology, engineering, and math. In addition to academics, CGLA will focus on building girls confidence and self esteem.

"[July 27] is a great day for not only Tennessee and the Chattanooga community, but also for the founders of the Chattanooga Girls Leadership Academy," Melanie Northcutt, the academy's board chair said on the school's first day.

Labels: single-sex education, charter school

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Four exclusive private boarding schools for girls are banding together to create what the consortium claims is the world's first single-sex online secondary school.

According to a June 23 article by Jeannie Naujeck of the Nashville Business Journal, The Online School for Girls is the result of a combined effort from Harpeth Hall School in Nashville, Holton-Arms School in Maryland, the Laurel School in Ohio and Westover School in Connecticut:

The Online School for Girls will begin offering courses this September, including two this fall and four in the spring 2010 semester spanning math, science and the humanities. Students at the member schools will take the classes and evaluate them as a pilot run.

Ann Teaff, the head of Harpeth Hall, says the goal of the online school is to provide a rigorous education in an online setting that is flexible, affordable and accessible to girls around the world. She says the curriculum will be expanded in coming years.

Though a girls-only online school is a unique offering, the concept of Internet-based education itself is far from uncommon. Naujeck reported that more than one million U.S. secondary school students took at least one online course during the 2007-2008 academic year.

The movement toward more single-sex schools is also gaining steam, with mounting evidence supporting the belief that single-sex schools are best equipped to address learning differences between boys and girls.

Labels: single-sex education, online

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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

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