No Girls Allowed: Public School Tries Single Sex Classes
Segregated groupings cater to the different learning styles of boys and girls
24 November 2010
Teacher Michael Bair emphasizes teamwork, reading, writing, computer skills and public speaking in his 9th grade English class for boys.
Class experiment
At Boonsboro High School in the small, rural town of the same name, an experiment in education is under way.
Although most classes have a mix of boys and girls at varied academic levels, high-achieving students in 9th and 10th grades are placed in single sex classes for their core subjects of English, math, science and social studies.
"What we really want to do is take that top group of kids and take them to the very highest level they can achieve here so that they're prepared for college," says Rebecca Brown, a student achievement specialist at Boonsboro High. She selects the students who participate in what the school calls the Academy. "By keeping them together in the single gender classes, they eliminate some of the distractions, if you will, that occur in a typical high school."
Incoming middle school students with high grades and test scores, strong teacher recommendations, and involvement in extracurricular activities are invited to join. But participation in the Academy program is optional, with parents having the final say.
"This is something we don't have to push. This is something people are interested in," says Peggy Pugh, principal of Boonsboro High. "We invite them. We'll have people call and ask questions and they have the right to say 'No, I don't think that's right for my child' or 'That's not an experience I want,' and there are other people who say 'Okay, that sounds like an interesting opportunity for my student.'"
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