The following is a summary of an article entitled "The Benefits of Girls' Schools" as posted on the website of the National Coalition of Girls Schools at http://www.ncgs.org/type0.php?pid=16
What the Research Shows:
The Benefits of Attending a Girls' School
Research in the past two decades confirms that girls perform better in all-girls classrooms.
Two leading experts, Professors Myra and David Sadker, summarized their ten years of research in one sentence: "When girls go to single-sex schools, they stop being the audience and become the players."
Research of the past two decades backs up the Sadkers' statement. In all-girls settings, girls participate more in class, emulate their female role models and have the chance to assume leadership positions at their schools. Their academic performance improves because teaching methods and classroom styles fit the female model of learning.
Some key findings of the Sadker research and studies by the American Association of University Women and Great Britain's National Foundation for Educational Research are:
Girls perform better in all-girls schools than in co-ed ones, regardless of their socio-economic and ability levels (This is also true for boys in all-boys settings).
In all-female settings, girls are more likely to take "traditionally male" courses like math and science.
Girls receive more individual attention in single-sex schools. For example, teachers in co-ed classrooms call on boys to recite more often than girls.
Cary Watson of Stanford University studied girls in single sex and co-ed environments in terms of their grades and achievements. One of her key findings was that if girls were in single sex schools, they had "heightened" career aspirations. Such girls are more likely to want to attend graduate and professional schools after college.
Women who graduate from all-girls high schools are overwhelmingly positive in their assessments of their secondary educations, according to a study of 4,274 such alumnae. Over 90% said the academics offered were very good or excellent, and 83% believed their college preparation was better than they would have received at co-educational high schools. More of these girls tended to major in math and science: 13% of the girls from all-girls high schools compared to 2% of the co-eds. Some 93% cited the opportunities to take on leadership roles in all-girls settings as a reason to attend all-girls schools, and 83% said they would choose such a high school again.
Burch Ford, Head of Miss Porter's School and former President of the NCGS Board of Trustees, has written: "Girls need to have the opportunity, easily available not just hard-won, to risk self-expression as scholars, athletes, artists, and leaders, until their competence leads to the confidence not only to express themselves but also to comfortably sustain their perspectives when they are challenged by boys and men. That competence and confidence does not follow from insight or understanding alone, but can only develop from example of adult models, along with personal practice and experience."
Gender and the Brain: The Difference is in the Details
The latest research shows that there are differences between female and male human brains. Because of such differences, girls are predisposed to do well in language, listening and fine motor skills, and paying attention to detail. The processing of thought and emotion is more complex in females because both of their brain hemispheres are more integrated and intertwined than those of male brains. This means women can think on an emotional and logical level at the same time. There is some evidence that males rely more on their spatial skills than women do.
Biology is not destiny. At all-girls schools, educators challenge girls to spend more time in sports and risk-taking experiences, and encourage them to develop "male-oriented" skills through spatial tasks like puzzles and building, and strategy tasks like chess and checkers.
Ten Things That Make Girls' Schools Unique
Girls' schools create opportunities for educational risk-taking, counter the negative influence of mass media, give girls a "can do" attitude, move social life outside of class, teach girls to work in teams, encourage them in math, science and technology, maximize girls' strengths in language, promote female sports, provide female role models, and give students practical skills like financial literacy and community service.