Katherine Bradley, Ph.D.
The
controversy and debate surrounding public school single gender education
as a means to increase student achievement has just begun. Since
the October 2006 relaxation of laws governing public school single
gender education, researchers and educational theorists assert that
single gender education will provide a plethora of benefits. In
addition to increased academic achievement, other benefits such as a
decrease in discipline referrals, an increase in attendance, an increase
in self-esteem, an increase in traditionally gender specific course
selection across genders, and an increase in career aspirations have
been investigated.
Administrators,
curriculum directors and teachers have a long history of jumping on the
school reform bandwagon with reckless abandon in an enthusiastic effort
to appease policy makers and legislators. School reform
pieces with any remote chance of producing even mild to moderate success
are embraced as educators scramble to fix the United States educational
system and increase student achievement.
HOLD ON—enough is enough!! Over
the past 25 years the roadway to school reform has been littered by
would-be reform panaceas fat on the wayward spending of educational
funds. Evidence of fiscally gluttonous, failed and
abandoned reform efforts, most attempted without empirical evidence
lending creditability to the effort or without appropriate professional
development necessary for implementation is everywhere.
Barely
a year has passed since President Bush signed legislation that made
public school single gender education possible—and legal. However,
all over the country schools are implementing single gender programs
without quality empirical research and without appropriate professional
development for implementation.
I too am of the opinion that single gender schooling is a viable strategy for increasing student achievement. I
base that opinion on personal experience, having been educated in a
single gender environment, and on the review of research from the
religious, international and private sector. However,
opinion, anecdotal research and quantitative research based on
dissimilar populations do not provide sufficient cause to once again
jump on the bandwagon.
More
qualitative and quantitative research is needed, but in order to
accurately generalize findings, public school populations must be used
in the research effort. First, let’s fully investigate single gender schooling in the public sector. Second, if findings support the concept, provide professional development and then, and only then, implement.
Recently,
in search of a school in which to conduct my doctoral dissertation
study on the impact of single gender schooling on student achievement, I
visited 4 different elementary and middle schools. I was
impressed, surprised, encouraged, but also, astonished beyond belief
that the “testing” of this potential reform tool was sometimes in the
hands of horrifically incompetent teachers.
One teacher in particular, I’ll call her “the whistle blower”, had no control of the class for my entire visit. I
observed in her classroom for no more than 10 minutes and during that
10 minute period the whistle sounded 11 times as the teacher attempted
to gain control, but to no avail. Students weren’t listening, but were talking, making loud noises and otherwise off task. I began to feel bad for the few students who were well behaved and seemingly interested in learning.
If
the perceived success of single gender schooling hinges upon the test
scores of the students in the class that I observed, the concept will
simply be abandoned without a fair shake. Let’s give
single gender schooling a fighting chance by testing the concept in a
sound educational environment before discarding it or embarking upon a
state or national campaign for implementation.
Fortunately,
I have found a suitable location for my dissertation study—a school
with an administration has researched single gender schooling, sought
expert counsel and advice and provided appropriate professional
development for the teachers involved. Whether the results
of my study yield evidence in support of single gender education or
not, the testing arena will at least have been optimal
Deepa Singh
Business Developer
Web Site:-http://www.gyapti.com
Blog:- http://gyapti.blogspot.com
Email Id:-deepa.singh@soarlogic.com
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