News

Students in single-gender classes say experience 'positive'

January 15, 2008

S.C. Student Survey on Single-Gender Education (PDF)

Students in single-gender classes across South Carolina like the atmosphere and say they believe the experience has improved their academic performance.

Those are among findings from a survey released today by the South Carolina Department of Education.

The agency conducted the survey online in late 2007. It attracted responses from 1,700 students from 31 different schools at all three levels - elementary, middle and high school.

Students were asked to assess how their participation in a single-gender program affected their grades, self-confidence, attitude, behavior, interest in participating in classroom discussions and "trying new ways to learn, and “desire to succeed."

The Education Department says its analysis of responses show roughly three-quarters of the students attribute improvements in each category to being in a single-gender setting.

South Carolina is among the national leaders in exploring ways to expand single-gender instruction, part of Superintendent Jim Rex's pledge to provide parents with more choices in the approach toward instruction in public schools.

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

Rex is pushing an aggressive legislative agenda to find ways of giving parents more options for their children in public schools. The effort is aimed at countering efforts by some who want the Legislature to create financial incentives for families that choose to educate their children at home or in private schools.

Rex also wants to hire an educator to assist public schools in setting up Montessori instruction, a multi-grade level approach to instruction, because an agency spokesman said Rex "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."

Rex already has a single-gender program coordinator for him, David Chadwell.

Chadwell, who previously worked in Richland 2 where single-gender instruction is commonplace, characterized the student survey as a unique undertaking.

The State Newspaper