Country's single-sex schools, classes to get OK

By Ben Feller
Associated Press

WASHINGTON — Public schools are about to get broad new freedom to teach boys and girls separately, perhaps the biggest shakeup to coed classrooms in three decades.

U.S. research on single-sex schooling is limited, but advocates say it shows better student achievement and attendance and fewer discipline problems. Critics say the evidence is not clear, and that single-sex learning does not prepare students for an integrated world.

At least 91 of 91,000 public schools offer a form of same-sex education, including The Philadelphia High School for Girls, which sends almost all of its graduates to college.

"The environment itself, I think it empowers girls," said Principal Geraldine Myles. "There is no ceiling to stop them from being anything they want to be, in terms of gender. It just isn't there — and at their impressionable age, it probably makes a difference."

In Hawai'i, there's no indication the state Department of Education will pursue single-sex instruction. Department spokesman Greg Knudsen said the DOE approach has favored "mainstreaming" boys and girls to provide educational equality.

Breene Harimoto, who chairs the state Board of Education, said single-sex schooling has not been a topic of discussion. "I don't see any reason it should be an issue," he said.

While opponents predict the new federal plan will be a big blow to equal education opportunity, department officials say there will be no easing of protection against sexual discrimination.

"We are not advocating single-sex schools and we are not advocating single-sex classrooms," said Ken Marcus, who oversees civil rights for the department. "We understand that coeducation remains the norm in American public education and will continue to be the norm. We are simply trying to ensure that educators have flexibility to provide options."

Since current rules began in 1975, single-sex classes have been allowed only in limited cases, such as gym classes involving contact sports. The proposed regulations announced yesterday would loosen those restrictions considerably, allowing districts to create single-sex classes to provide diverse choices or to meet students' particular needs.

Schools would have to treat boys and girls equally in determining what courses to offer. And single-gender enrollment must be voluntary.

If a school created a single-sex class in a subject, it would not be required to offer a similar class for the other gender, but would have to offer a coed version of it.

The department's plan also would make it easier to create single-sex schools.

Current rules allow such schools, but only when a district creates a comparable school for the other gender. That restriction would disappear. Instead, districts would have the option of demonstrating that their coed schools provide "substantially equal" benefits to the excluded sex.

Some call that bad policy.

"The notion that you can have schools that are 'separate but less than equal' is a new low in the understanding and protection of anti-discrimination principles," said Jocelyn Samuels, vice president of education and employment at the National Women's Law Center.

But Marcus said school districts must truly show that excluded students get an education substantially the same as those in same-sex classes. The department, in responding to complaints or doing its own reviews, will consider everything from text books to admissions criteria to ensure districts don't play favorites with one gender.

The changes, which would not be immediate, affect elementary and secondary education, but not colleges. Single-sex vocational classes and schools at the K-12 level would remain prohibited.

The proposed regulations will be open for public comment for 45 days, and officials expect a final ruling within a few months.