My partner and I stand on the affirmation of the resolution that sex segregation in math

and science has benefitted public schools. Obviously, for Florida, single-sex schools have
succeeded. On the FCAT (Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test), here were the
results:

Percentage of students scoring proficient on the FCAT

boys in coed classes: 37% scored proficient

girls in coed classes: 59% scored proficient
girls in single-sex classes: 75% scored proficient
boys in single-sex classes: 86% scored proficient.

Remember, these students were all learning the same curriculum in the same school.
Many of those boys who scored proficient in the all-boys classes had previously been
labeled "ADHD" or "ESE" in coed classes. California should definitely follow their
example.

2008 update: in a recent report on NBC Nightly News, Professor Kathy Piechura-Couture
of Stetson University , reported that over the four years of the pilot study, 55%of boys in
the coed classrooms scored proficient on the FCAT, compared with 85% of boys in the
all-boys classes. Same class size. Same curriculum. Same demographics.

Once the genders are separated, teachers can quickly learn that the boys’ participation
and learning are enhanced because the male classrooms are able to implement more
action-based activities. As boys tend to prefer movement-based lessons, teachers leading
all boy classes have the students physically move around from activity to activity.
Similarly, the all female classrooms can also have the students learn in the ways they
prefer to.

Overall, leaders are beginning to predict that all schools, especially those with failing and
low performance scores, may benefit from experimental single sex programs.

Students often contend with several problems which are solved by single-sex schools.
Girls as well as boys are benefitted when in school with the same gender. First of all, it
cannot be helped that most teachers have a preference of gender. Teachers that prefer to
work with students who are organized and neat, and follow the rules tend to favor
working with females. Also, teachers that prefer to work in classes where the students are
creative and have ideas of their own prefer working with males. This simply cannot be
prevented in co-ed schools, whereas in single-sex school, this is an impossibility. As boys
dominate the discussions, girls have fewer opportunities to participate and voice their
own opinions. Students experience the freedom to speak out, ask questions, debate issues,
and defend points of view. Students can fill every role at an all-girl school; they can be
speakers, thinkers, writers, singers, artists, scientists, athletes, actors, and leaders. Girls
at single-gender schools plan careers in math, science, and technology four times more
often than their peers from other schools. Also, girls and boys are both negatively
affected by having the opposite gender in the same classrooms. In fact, one 14 year old
local Boston student reported her experience in a single gender classroom to the Boston
Globe, “With both genders in the same classroom, the boys take advantage of us, they
hardly do their work, and are too busy tricking us into doing theirs. . . . Single-sex classes
give the boys an opportunity to step up their game, and the girls an opportunity to focus
on them, and only them.” Students report high self-esteem as a result of their academic
achievement, not as a result of their looks or popularity. Furthermore, students have to
conform with stereotypes. As the stereotype goes that boys are better at science and math,
while girls are better at the language arts, Boys have limited encouragement in doing
writing and reading and Girls have limited encouragement in math and science. Another
stereotype goes that boys are stronger and more athletic than girls, leading them to have
unequal sports opportunities. Research shows that girls even have lower teacher
expectations in coeducational classrooms. Additionally, in coed schools, there are
insufficient role models of the same gender. On the contrary, in single-sex schools, the
teachers are usually all of the same gender, and can teach in a way that motivates
students. Obviously, for high school it has worked. Girls at single-gender schools have
scored 30% higher on average on the SAT’s. If it obviously works for high schools,
naturally, it will probably work for middle schools. All in all, sex segregation in math in
science is much more effective than co-ed education, and this system should definitely be
implemented in California.