News

Greenville schools gearing up to offer single-gender classes

August 18, 2008

She welcomes the chance to teach a single-gender class and the differences that come with it.

"There are advantages to having a single gender in a classroom," she said. "In a co-ed classroom you're dealing with a lot of differences, whereas in an all-male or all-female classroom you can focus in on how best that specific gender learns."

Boys learn better through motion and competition, girls through description and discussion, Turza said. She gleaned those facts from hours of training at the state level and through reading books on single-gender education.

This school year, 10 Greenville County schools will offer some or all single-gender classes. That list includes two Golden Strip schools: Bryson Middle School and J.L. Mann Academy.

J.L. Mann took the biggest step, offering single-gender classes to incoming freshmen in math, English, science and social studies. Freshmen may opt for the single-gender program or enroll in traditional classes. Each year, Mann plans to add a grade level of classes, until single-gender classes are offered in grades 9-12.

This year, 143 of 442 freshmen will take at least one single-gender class, said Mann assistant principal Chris Chapman. Eight teachers will each teach one single-gender class in each subject.

Chapman said Mann will use the classes to gather data to find out if students perform better in the single-gender environment.

Bryson Middle will take a small step toward single-gender classes, offering separate seventh-grade math classes for boys and girls in addition to typical classroom settings, said Principal Phillip Davie.

"It will be a small-scale start, and we're going to try some strategies with them and watch them over the course of the year and compare to how they did last year and to their counterparts," Davie said.

Davie said all students who will take the single-gender course have their parents' permission. The school floated the idea to parents and had the most interest in seventh grade, he said.

Mauldin High School considered offering single-gender classes this year for its incoming freshmen but decided to hold off until at least next year after a low response from parents, Principal Ann Miller said.

"We attempted to start that up this year, but there didn't seem to be as much interest as we'd hoped for from the parents and the students," Miller said. "But we are interested in pursuing it."

The most successful example thus far of single-gender education in the Golden Strip is Langston Charter Middle School, which will begin its fourth year of completely separated single-gender classes.

The school added two more eighth-grade classes this year, bringing its total enrollment to 280 students, said Principal Greg Abel.

Abel said a few spaces were still available for this year, and the school is accepting applications.

Curriculum is the same in all district schools, including Langston and all single-gender classes. Teachers may pick different books to read, essay topics or classroom activities, but all have the same basic goals.

"The differences can come in with the way a classroom is arranged," Abel said.

"A project could be tweaked a little bit so that it hits a different interest in the boys or the girls, but the material is the same and they are tested the same. They have to know the same content."

Nathaniel Cary
Staff Writer
GreenvilleOnline.com