We affirm, Resolved Single-gender classrooms would improve the quality of education in

American public schools.

Observation 1- Measuring Quality of Education

According to UNICEF, quality of education includes, Environments that are healthy, safe,
protective and gender-sensitive. UNICEF also offers the weighing mechanism of Outcomes that encompass knowledge,
skills and attitudes, and are linked to national goals for education and positive participation in society. The Obama Administration has
declared that it is a national imperative to educate every American student to graduate from high school prepared for college. Additionally
President Obama has set the education goal for the country: that by 2020, America would have the highest proportion of college graduates
in the world. Additionally

The University of Pennsylvania also found College attendance and

college entrance exam scores are important educational outcomes to investigate for the school
effects. Therefore, impacts of this round should be measured by gender-equality and college

preparedness.

http://www.unicef.org/education/files/QualityEducation.PDF

Learners who are healthy, well-nourished and ready to participate and learn, and
supported in learning by their families and communities;

Environments that are healthy, safe, protective and gender-sensitive, and provide
adequate resources and facilities;

Content that is reflected in relevant curricula and materials for the acquisition of basic
skills, especially in the areas of literacy, numeracy and skills for life, and knowledge in
such areas as gender, health, nutrition, HIV/AIDS prevention and peace.

Processes through which trained teachers use child-centred teaching approaches in

well-managed classrooms and schools and skilful assessment to facilitate learning and
reduce disparities.

Outcomes that encompass knowledge, skills and attitudes, and are linked to national
goals for education and positive participation in society.

Contention 1- Less Distractions

Svetlana Chesser of Auburn University studied coeducational schools and found a
distracting culture of rating and dating. Chesser traces this distraction to the sex hormone
Cortisol. Because the hormone is sensitive to environmental sex composition, Chesser found
significant increases in cortisol levels for both male and female students in co-ed schools, as
compared to single-sex environments. This is important because cortisol has a negative impact
on attention, learning, and memory due to elevated cortisol levels blocking chemical reactions
in the brain that are necessary for education. However, Ronald Huffman of Michigan University
finds that single-sex classrooms can remove these social distractions and have significant
educational benefit for students These impacts are quantified by a study conducted by the
University of Pennsylvania. The study is unique because it draws from a pool of RANDOMLY
assigned students and isolates for a variety of other student variables. The study concludes,
Our analyses show that single-sex schools are causally linked with both college entrance exam
scores and college-attendance rates for both boys and girls. The study quantifies this with a 3.1
and 5.6 percent increase in college attendance for both boys and girls respectively.

Contention 2 - Specialization
According to Psychologist Leonard Sax,since the mid 1970s, educators have made a virtue
of ignoring gender differences. The assumption was that by teaching girls and boys the same
subjects in the same way at the same age, gender gaps in achievement would be eradicated.
That approach has failed.
King and Gurian explain that this difference in learning style can be attributed to the differences
in the brains of children. Boys have more M ganglion cells which detect movement whereas girls
have more P ganglion cells, which are sensitive to color and sensory activity. Therefore girls
generally rely on words whereas boys favor pictures for learning

A second reasons for differences in learning style is explained by Weining Chang who says
males and female learn differently because men and women are not only biologically different,
but they are also brought up in different ways with different social expectations. This causes
them to have behavioural differences that are reflected in academic aptitudes.
Sax explains how single gender classrooms resolve this problem by exploiting the differences
of the genders to be mutually beneficial. Ben Wolfgang concurs that changed strategies and
lesson plans in single-sex classrooms can improve education.
These impacts are all quantified by the University of Florida which analyzed standardized test
scores for co-ed and single-sex schools. The researchers controlled all other variables and
isolated for specialized gender specific teaching which they found increased test scores by 16%
in Girls and 49% in boys.

<http://www.cdtl.nus.edu.sg/brief/v7n1/sec2.htm>.
Do men and women learn differently? This seemingly simple question is very difficult to
answer. This is because men and women are not only biologically different, but they are also
brought up in different ways with different social expectations. As a result, men and women
behave differently and such behavioural differences are reflected in academic aptitudes.

http://www.learningace.com/doc/1529402/817e1e2e47bc939f718605555af27571/555-580

http://vddb.library.lt/fedora/get/LT-eLABa-0001:J.04~2011~ISSN_1941-7233.N_8.PG_99-114/
DS.002.1.01.ARTIC
These differences in the brain also create learning differences between males and females. According
to King and Gurian (1999), girls have more P ganglion cells which are more sensitive to color variety
and fine sensory activity. Boys have more M ganglion cells which allow for greater detection of
movement. Due to the high number of M ganglion cells and better movement detection, boys rely
on pictures and moving objects when they write. Girls use words, color and other fine sensory
information when they write. Girls are reportedly less impulsive than boys because the frontal
lobe, which is the decision making area of the brain, develops sooner and is more active. This
allows girls to sit still, read and write earlier (King, Gurian, 1999).

When schools offer single gender classes, administrators and teachers can adapt the class
to suit the needs of boys or girls. As a result, the students learn and engage more in class.
According to Curt Green from Capitol Pre-College Academy, two years after a single gender
program, the boys proficiency rates increased by 20 percentage points and there were fewer
behavior-related suspensions and expulsions. This increase in
http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/06/20/42blackboys.h26.html
When the school was coeducational, 30 percent to 40 percent of its students
scored at the proficient level on state tests, he said. But after two years as a
single-gender program, he said, boys proficiency rates increased by 20 percentage
points or more, and there were fewer behavior-related suspensions and expulsions.
Mr. Green, who will be the principal of a new public boys school in Atlanta this fall, credited
the Baton Rouge improvements largely to instructional strategies that research suggests
might work well for boys.
For example, Capitol teachers were trained to understand boys tactile-kinesthetic
strengths, allowing them to move around in class more and designing more projects
requiring hands-on work, he said. They tried to play to competitive spirit among boys by
letting them use clickers to signal their answers to a question.

FCAT Scores Stetson-

http://etd.fcla.edu/CF/CFE0003885/Haynes_Lloyd_G_201108_EdD.pdf

http://www.singlesexschools.org/evidence.html

https://cepa.stanford.edu/sites/default/files/ednext20064_68.pdf

Contention 3- Equality

Subpoint A- Racial Equality

According to Diane Pollard from the University of Wisconsin, traditional schools do not meet
the needs of minority students. She found that Africans Americans in particular, need to be
closely linked to the community and with cultural activities. This creates an unfair environment
in public schools where teachers cannot effectively educate the minority students. However,
single-sex classes offer closer interactions with African American culture and community. When
schools offer single gender classes, administrators and teachers can adapt to the needs of
different students. Cornelius Riordan found that single-sex classrooms bear significant benefits
from African Americans and Latinos. Riordan furthered that the schools had and even more
positive impact for poor and disadvantaged minorities. Poor and disadvantaged students,, were especially
likely to benefit from single-sex education. When he studied data on minorities attending Catholic schools, he found that black and Latino
students in single-gender schools academically outperformed their peers in co-ed Catholic schools. The more disadvantaged the student,
Riordan says, the more likely these students are to gain an advantage from attending single-sex school He

also found that

African American and Hispanic students in single sex schools score on average a year higher
than similar students in coeducational settings. Riordan quantifies this with minorities in single sex classrooms

scoring on average 1 year higher than co-ed school children on all tests. According

to Jane Boyd from Capitol Pre-

College Academy, two years after a single gender program, the proficiency rates of African
American boys increased by 20 percentage points and there was a decrease in behavior-related
suspensions and expulsions.

http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED503856.pdf

Riordan found that the performance of African-American and Hispanic students in singlesex schools is stronger on all tests, scoring on average almost a year higher than similar
students in coeducational settings.

Subpoint B- Gender Equality

According to Kay Hutchinson, negative gender roles are often sharpened in coeducational
environments. More specifically Valerie Lee of The University of Michigan found gender
domination and active discrimination against females were common in the coeducational
schools However, Boston University finds that single-sex schools and classes help students
unlearn sex stereotypes by encouraging interest among girls in math and science and among
boys in writing and foreign languages Rosemary Salmone explains how single-sex schools
do this by implicitly and explicitly recognizing gender, providing an opportunity for students
to reflect on and openly discuss the ways in which gender expectations can affect their
personal and professional lives Rosemary says this can resolve the problem of female
underrepresentation in high-level male-dominated careers. The American Enterprise Institute
also links single-gender classrooms to higher future salaries for women. Lastly Allison Booth
links this newfound equality to academics. all-female classes have a direct effect on pass rates
and course scores as predicted by the reduction of stereotype threat the first year pass rate of

females increased by 7.5% and the average score of females by 10% in the second year with
no added expenditure

SINGLE-GENDER CLASSROOMS HELP BATTLE HARMFUL GENDER STEREOTYPESHutchinson and Mikulski '12
[Kay Bailey and Barbara, Both Senators; A Right to Choose Single-Sex Education;
the WAll Street Journal; 16 October 2012; http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/
SB10000872396390443768804578038191947302764;

Critics argue that these programs promote harmful gender stereotypes. Ironically, it is exactly
these stereotypes that the single-sex programs seek to eradicate.
As studies have confirmedand as any parent can tell younegative gender roles are often
sharpened in coeducational environments. Boys are more likely, for instance, to buy into the
notion that reading isn't masculine when they're surrounded by (and showing off for) girls.

Valerie E. Lee, [University of Michigan], Helen M. Marks [University of Wisconsin-Madison],

and Tina Byrd [University of Michigan], "Sexism in Single-Sex and Coeducational Independent
Secondary School Classrooms," Sociology of Education, Vol. 67, No. 2 (Apr. 1994), pp. 92-120.

On the other hand, two forms -gender domination and active discrimination against
females- which can occur only in environments in which both sexes are present-were common
in the coeducational schools. In fact, the major form of classroom sexism treated in the
literature-gender domination (either boys dominating discussions or teachers recognizing

boys more often than girls) was by far the most prevalent form of sexism in the coeducational
schools.

Rosemary Salomone, Education: Rights and Wrongs in the Debate over Single-Sex
Schooling, BOSTON UNIVERSITY LAW REVIEW v. 93, 513, p. 1005.
Resources and demographics tell only part of the story. Though empirical data remain
inconclusive, proponents persuasively argue that, at their best, single-sex schools and
classes help students unlearn sex stereotypes. They encourage interest among girls
in math and science and among boys in writing and foreign languages, skills that are
critical in the global information economy. Separate schools especially teach for the
comprehensive outcome, the development of students for the short and the long term of life and
leadership.

Salomone, Rosemary. "RIGHTS AND WRONGS IN THE DEBATE OVER SINGLE - SEX
SCHOOLING." ST. JOHNS SCHOOL OF LAW LEGAL STUDIES RESEARCH PAPER
SERIES. N.p., Jan. 2013. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.
Despite claims to the contrary, the single-sex factor is a key component to the impressive
results. Because these schools implicitly and explicitly recognize gender, they provide
an opportunity for students to reflect on and openly discuss the ways in which gender
expectations can affect their personal and professional lives, for better or worse. They
provide a safe haven for students to break out of gendered attitudes and behavior patterns
and develop a broader range of sensibilities. When thoughtfully managed, they can even
prove validating to students whose identity falls outside of societys gendered norms. For the
increasing population of Muslim girls in particular, they provide an opportunity for schooling
within the cultural mainstream thereby exposing them to more widely shared values.

Salomone, Rosemary. "RIGHTS AND WRONGS IN THE DEBATE OVER SINGLE - SEX
SCHOOLING." ST. JOHNS SCHOOL OF LAW LEGAL STUDIES RESEARCH PAPER
SERIES. N.p., Jan. 2013. Web. 15 Feb. 2014.
The researchers conclude that sex differences in risk behavior are not hard-wired but
environmentally constructed and reflect social learning. They speculate that, when women
are placed in an all-female environment where they are not reminded of their gender
identity, they lose a culturally driven belief about appropriate female behavior,
i.e., avoiding risk. They warn that females who are less confident in class may also be less
competitive and more risk averse in the work world, causing women to avoid competitive
environments and higher paying jobs that are often tied to bonuses based on organizational
performance. They suggest that changing the learning context might help resolve the
problem of female underrepresentation in high-level male-dominated careers.
In the present paper, we propose that girls

in single-sex classes have a better self- concept of ability in

masculine school subjects than the girls in mixed-sex classes because gender-related selfknowledge is less accessible once the opposite sex is absent. Our study, using a quasi-experimental approach,
aimed at replicating

findings that female students benefit from a single-sex environment with

respect to their self-concept in masculine domains. To circumvent the widely acknowledged problems associated
with comparisons of non-equivalent groups in the debate about coeducational vs. single- sex schooling, students from mixed-sex comprehensive
state schools were placed randomly in single-sex or mixed-sex physics classes throughout the first year of their physics lessons.

We found

that girls reported a significantly higher self-concept of ability in physics after having been
taught physics in girls-only classes. Boys self-concept of ability, however, was unaffected by the gender composition of
their physics classes. Thus, our hypothesis that girls in single-sex classes will acquire a more positive self- concept of ability in physics was
supported by our data.

Gender stereotypes are exacerbated in co-ed schools and moderated in single-sex schools. Girls in
the single sex-schools were more likely to focus their studies on math and science; boys were more
likely to study language and literature. And there was also this attention-grabbing finding: For girls
single-sex schooling was linked to higher wages.

Booth, Allison L., Cardona-Sosa, Lina, and Nolen Patrick. Do Single-Sex Classes Affect Exam Scores?
An Experiment in a Coeducational University. Australia National University. February 2013. Web. 4
February 2014. Retrieved from < http://ftp.iza.org/dp7207.pdf>.

The results in Table 3 show that there is evidence that all-female classes have a direct
effect on pass rates and course scores as predicted by the reduction of stereotype
threat; females with lower IQ z-scores have higher estimated benefits from being in all-female
classes, females are more likely to attend classes despite the lack of evidence that GTAs are
adjusting their teaching, and the main effect of being assigned to an all-female class cannot
be attributed solely to the change in attendance. Given that the evidence suggests that it is the
reduction of stereotype threat causing females to do better, one could explore what policies or
interventions other than teaching in gender-segregated classes could reduce stereotype threat
and cause females to do better. For instance, writing self-affirming essays or framing tasks
differently have been examined by psychologists (see Cohen et. al. (2006) or Steele et. al.

(2002) and the references therein for examples of interventions) and found to reduce stereotype
threat. However, these interventions take up class time and have an added cost whereas our
experiment was able to increase the first year pass rate of females by 7.5% and the average
score of females by 10% in the second year with no added expenditure.

http://www2.edc.org/womensequity/pubs/digests/digest-singlesex.html
One of the underlying tenets of African-centered education is that schools serving African American
children need to be closely linked with the communities of their students, so that they can build upon and
reinforce the cultural activities of those communities.9 This orientation suggests that these schools should
not be limited to an academic focus but should also actively concern themselves with their students
social and personal development and with preparing them for the roles they are likely to assume in
adulthood. Furthermore, this approach emphasizes the notion that students are expected to use education
not only for individual advancement but also for promoting and empowering their community. One way
in which these ideas have been promoted in some contemporary African American communities is
through single-sex classes.

Regarding her own research, Pollard felt that the positive results she found were due
to the stigma that traditional schools fail urban African Americans, whereas singlesex classes consequently offer closer interactions with African American culture and
community (Pollard, 1999).

Contention X- School Environment

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2006/11/01/10gender.h26.html
But supporters of the new policy, including practitioners who say single-sex experiments
have made a difference for students, say the option should be available. Ms. Kiner said
discipline problems among the 9th graders at Booker T. Washington High in Memphis
have fallen by 60 percent and students seem more engaged in learning.

Contention X- Minority Gap

Hani Morgan from the University of Southern Mississippi finds that the reason minority
students are likely to encounter more problems in schools than mainstream students
involves incomplete
knowledge of minority students learning and communication styles. This leads to
educational inequality for minorities.

Contention X- Test Scores

http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2007/06/20/42blackboys.h26.html
When the school was coeducational, 30 percent to 40 percent of its students
scored at the proficient level on state tests, he said. But after two years as a
single-gender program, he said, boys proficiency rates increased by 20 percentage
points or more, and there were fewer behavior-related suspensions and expulsions.
Mr. Green, who will be the principal of a new public boys school in Atlanta this fall, credited
the Baton Rouge improvements largely to instructional strategies that research suggests
might work well for boys.
For example, Capitol teachers were trained to understand boys tactile-kinesthetic
strengths, allowing them to move around in class more and designing more projects
requiring hands-on work, he said. They tried to play to competitive spirit among boys by
letting them use clickers to signal their answers to a question.

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10000872396390443768804578038191947302764In a three-year study in the mid-2000s, researchers at Florida's Stetson University compared the
performance of single-gender and mixed-gender classes at an elementary school, controlling
for the likes of class sizes, demographics and teacher training. When the children took the
Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test (which measures achievement in math and literacy,
for instance), the results were striking: Only 59% of girls in mixed classes were scored as
proficient, while 75% of girls in single-sex ones achieved proficiency. Similarly, 37% of
boys in coeducational classes scored proficient, compared with 86% of boys in the allboys classes.
Booker T. Washington High School in Memphis, Tenn., the winner of the 2011 Race to the
Top High School Commencement Challenge, went to a 81.6% graduation rate in 2010 from a
graduation rate of 55% in 2007. Among the changes at the school? Implementing all-girls and
all-boys freshman academies.

https://mospace.umsystem.edu/xmlui/bitstream/handle/10355/14460/research.pdf?
sequence=2
A large Australian study was conducted in 2000 by The Australian Council for Educational
Research (ACER). This study compared performance of students at single-sex and
coeducational schools. Their analysis, based on six years of study of over 270,000 students,
in 53 academic subjects, demonstrated that both boys and girls who were educated in
single-sex classrooms scored on average 15 to 22 percentile ranks higher than did boys and
girls in coeducational settings.

For example, at Morley High School in Leeds, only one-third of boys had been earning passing grades in
German and French prior to institution of the program. After the change to single-sex classes, 100% of
boys earned passing grades.