SCHotline Press Releases

Students say single-gender classrooms boost self-confidence, ability to
succeedCOLUMBIA – Girls and boys in South Carolina’s single-gender
classrooms say their experiences have increased their confidence, class
participation, desire to succeed in school and ability to succeed.

More than 1,700 students responded to a recent survey by the South
Carolina Department of Education. Overall, three out of four
student-respondents in grades 2 through 9 – students enrolled at 12
elementary schools, 18 middle schools and one high school – agreed
that the single-gender approach was helping them in school.

“More and more South Carolina parents are choosing this option
whenever and wherever it’s made available,” said State
Superintendent of Education Jim Rex. “This new survey shows that kids
see value, too. They believe this approach helps them perform at a
higher level.”

South Carolina has been portrayed in national news reports as a pioneer
in single-gender programs. Rex, who wants to expand curriculum choices
within public schools, created an Office of Public School Choice at the
Education Department and hired the nation’s first statewide
coordinator to help local districts introduce the concept. More than
150 South Carolina public schools are expected to offer the
single-gender option to parents next school year, many of them as
partially autonomous operations within existing schools.

At South Carolina’s first-ever Public School Choice Conference in
December, Rex unveiled legislation he will support during the 2008
General Assembly to increase the number and variety of choices available
to students and their families. The bill, sponsored by Lexington County
Republican Ted Pitts, would create public school choice committees in
the state’s local school districts, each charged with creating new
curriculum choices at the elementary, middle and high school levels
within two years. Similar legislation was passed by bipartisan
majorities last year in the House and Senate, but vetoed by Governor
Mark Sanford.

Rex expects to hire a Montessori expert by the end of January, and he
believes interest in that curriculum option also will be considerable.

“Public schools are looking for ways to offer more choices to parents
and students,” Rex said. “For most schools, it’s just a matter of
learning how to create these programs and make them effective. The
Education Department can help in showing them how to do that.”

Current curriculum choices across South Carolina include
magnet programs, schools-within-schools, alternative schools, virtual
schools and charter schools. Some of the state’s public school choice
programs include single-gender initiatives, middle college/early
college, Montessori Education, evening high school, language immersion,
academic academies, arts integration and international baccalaureate
programs.

David Chadwell, the Education Department’s single-gender coordinator,
said the student survey is believed to be the first of its kind in the
nation. Students were asked to agree or disagree with statements that
said being in a single-gender program had increased or improved their
self-confidence, desire to succeed in school, interest in trying new
ways to learn, independence, participation during class, ability to
succeed in school, attitude in school, behavior in school and grades.

Highlights of the survey results included:
● Roughly three-quarters of the students who participated in the
survey believed that single-gender classes were contributing factors to
their improvements in each category.
● Although both boys and girls gave positive reviews to the
single-gender experience, the strongest endorsements came from girls.
Four out of five girls said the classes had improved their confidence,
independence and participation, as well as both their desire and ability
to succeed.
● Students’ positive assessments crossed ethnic lines, with few
significant differences among white, African-American, Hispanic and
Asian-American students. For example, 78 percent of African-American
and Hispanic students said single-gender classrooms increased their
desire to succeed in school, compared to 73 percent of white students
and 71 percent of Asian-American students.
● Elementary students responded positively at higher rates than
middle and high school students, although majorities of students at all
grade levels agreed that the single-gender approach had helped them in
school.

Background on the survey

Chadwell said the survey was posted on the Education Department’s
website during November and early December. All schools with
single-gender programs were informed that their students could
participate, and 1,700 students filled out survey responses on line.
Students were asked whether they agreed strongly with various
statements, agreed, agreed somewhat, were neutral, disagreed somewhat,
disagreed or disagreed strongly.

The Education Department released only statewide results because the
numbers of responses from individual schools were too small to be of
statistical value, Chadwell said.

He added that the state agency would do another survey of student
opinion on single-gender classes later this year.