Gendered Schooling

Gender mainstreaming, the consistent use of a gender perspective at all stages of the development and implementation of policies, plans, programs and projects, has become a great concern in our nation's school systems. In the early 1990s the American Association of University Women Educational Foundation documented disturbing evidence on the inequitable education students recieve. Research in this area has grown exponentially and touches on major issues that involve gender patterns in education in its relation to differences in acedemic performance between boys and girls. Evidence concerning gender inequality and differences in academic performance has been reported for all grades, kindergarden through the twetlth grade, comparably for both public versus private schools and single-sex versus coed schools, especially in the math and sciences. Research has also shown that gender inequality amongst different races in the school system produce contrasting evidence of its own. The gender gap between men and women have also consistently appeared in different careers and occupations.
 
Classroom Composition

 
 

The Big Debate: Single-Sex Versus Coed Schooling

The public debate over single-sex schooling versus coed schooling is a hot topic not only in the United States, but also around the globe. Several countries have experimented with public, single-sex schools, and res earch has been conducted to study the academic and psychological effects this type of schooling has on both boys and girls alike. Currently in the United States, there are only eleven public single-sex schools. The vast majority of all-girl and all-boy schools are private. As this becomes more of an issue in the United States, more researchers are investigating the effects of separate and coed schooling. Current research has concluded that single-sex education seems to be most beneficial to females and males from disadvantaged backgrounds, whereas males benefit most from coeducational settings. There are many short-term benefits to single-sex schooling, however the long-term effects show no differences between students who attend single-sex versus coed schooling ( Research Summary 2000:1)

How do you know if single-sex schooling is right for your child?

In general, single-sex schools have been found to:

Girls

Boys


“Girls become strong analytical thinkers and creative people, develop strong moral character, and take responsibility for the community around them”

-Principal of all-girls school in New York City  (Black 1998: 30)
 

Coed Schooling

 
In general, coed schooling has been found to:

Girls

Boys


In conclusion, males tend to benefit most from coed schooling, where they are further able to dominate classroom discussion and receive aid from teachers. Conversly, females in single-sex schools are academically and atletically more successful than their peers in coed schools, as the single-sex environment allows girls to excel in nontraditional subjects such as science and math.
 
 
 

Difficulties in researching single-sex versus coed schooling: (Research Summary 2000: 3)

References

Black, Susan. 1998. “Boys and Girls Together.” American School Board Journal. Dec. 1998:30-33.
“Boys Lagging in Classroom Could Spell Significant Education Changes in Future.” The Canadian Press. May 29, 2003.
Haag, Pamela. (2000). “K-12 Single-sex Education: What Does the Research Say?” ERIC Digest. Retrieved March 20, 2004. (http://www.ericfacility.net/databases/ERIC_Digests/ed444758.html)

Schackelton-Verbuyst, Bonnie. “Missing the Mark: Coed Must Go!” Retrieved March 21, 2004. (http://www.teachertech.rice.edu/Participants/mborrow/GenderEquity/shackel.html)

Smith, Ian David. (1996). “Gender Differentiation Final Report.” Australian Research Council Institutional Grants Scheme Final Report. Retrieved March 20, 2004. (http://www2.edfac.usyd.edu.au/LocalResource/study1/coed.html)

Strauss, Valerie. (2002). “Bush Administration Policy Calls Attention to Conflicting Views of All-Girl and All-Boy Programs.” The Washington Post. Retrieved March 27, 2004. (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11121-2002May13.html)

The National Coalition of Girls’ Schools. (2003). “What the Research Shows: The Benefits of Attending a Girls’ School.” Retrieved March 20, 2004. (http://www.ncgs.org)
 

Links

http://www2.edfac.usyd.au/LocalResource/study1/coed.html
(Australian Research Council's Report on Gender Differentiation in Coeducational and Single-Sex Schools)http://www.ncgs.org
(The National Coalition of Girls' Schools)

http://singlesexschools.org   (Single Sex Schools in the United States)


 

African Americans in the Classroom

    There is little research that combines race and gender as pertaining to the classroom behavior.  The research that does exist seems to be focused on African American males in the classroom rather than on African American females or any other race with gender combined.  African American males in the classroom are more likely to not succeed in the classroom because of their lack in social skills (Taylor  2003: 36).  Their lack of social skills are overlooked by the teacher in the sense that it is not looked at as an important component of the classroom (2003:  37).  There is research that suggests a "positive relationship between certain social skills and school achievement of young African American males"(2003: 37).  With this in mind, "teachers need to include more communication contact to increase positive behavior in the classroom such as askinhg and answering questions, and engaging in academic-related discussions" as  Taylor and other scholars such as Holland (1987) and Hilliard (1989) has noted in the book, Practical Application of Social Learning Theories In Educating Young African American Males (2003:  37).

    The limited research of African American females also points to the topic of social skills.  "Some research suggests that among girls, African American children get mroe reinforcement for good social behavior, while white girls may get more for good academic behavior" (Sapiro 2003; Scott-Jones, and Clark 1986:  153).  Other research done by interviewing students in a classroom exemplified how African American females were twice as likely to refer to their teachers as supportive when relating to academic support while African American boys found social support from their teachers in comparison to girls (Sapiro 2003; Pollard 1993:  154). As  previously said, this  topic is biased in the way that limited research has been done to include studies of both race and gender in the classroom which has made researching this topic complicated.
 
 

African American Males  (Bank and Peter 1997:  115)

African American Males and Females Characteristics of Learning Preferences  (Taylor 2003:  23-24)


References
Bank, Barbara J. and Peter M. Hall.  1997.  Gender, Equity, and Schooling:  Policy and Practice.  New York and London:  Garland Publishing, Inc.

Bennett, Christine I.  1999.  Comprehensive Multicultural Education:  Theory and Practice.  5th ed.  Boston, MA:  Allyn and Bacon.

Chou, Victoria and James H. Lewis and William H. Watkins.  2001.  Race and Education:  The Roles of History and Society in Educating African American         Students.  Boston, MA:  Allyn and Bacon.

Sapiro, Virginia.  2003.  Women In American Society:  An Introduction to Women's Studies.  5th ed.  New York, NY:  McGraw-HIll Companies, Inc.

Taylor, Beorge R.  2003.  Practical Application of Social Learning Theories In Educating Youn African-American Males.  Lanham, MD:  University Press of     America.



 

Public versus Private Education

Recent research shows disparities in the education of girls and boys. There is evidence of a difference in the treatment of boys and girls in the classroom. Evidence also shows a gender gap in academic performance. Little research has been done at this point concerning the difference in gender equity in public and private schools. With the issue of school choice being widely debated in the U.S., gender equity in schools could play a major role in parents’ choices. Research thus far may influence how a parent seeks a school for his/ her child. Research shows that males outperform females in the SATs and in subjects such as math and science. Females tend to excel in language arts and literature. The disparities far exceed basic classroom performance but spill over into teacher treatment, self esteem issues, and influences in future career goals.

 

Public Schools

Boys
Girls

Private Schools

Boys ( Kurlioff and Reichert: 2003 p 1- 16)

Girls  (Prowller 1999: 776-808)

Difficulties in Research

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Gender Equity in Science and Mathematics

Research on gender equity in science and mathematics tends to focus on girls and their consistent pattern of being outperformed by boys. Despite the gender gap having narrowed over the years, significant differences still remain.  Until recently it was believed that male-female differences in math and science were caused by biology.  Notions including “boys have superior spatial abilities making them better suited for certain mathematical manipulations, while girls are supposed to be better at language and writing” (Jovanovic 1995: 1).  Evidence does show that boys do excel in math and girls appear better in verbal related skills, but current behavior trends are troubling because girl’s grades in math and science classes are often equal to or better than boy’s. The following are interesting facts concerning the issue.

(Jovanovic. 1995: 1-2)

(American Association of University Women Educational Foundation. 1998: 1-4)
Why the gender gap? Many theories tend to focus on socialization barriers that prevent females from participating fully in science and mathematics throughout their lives.

(Hammrich. 2002:  81-83)

The organizational characteristics of science, such as it competitive and individualistic nature, play important roles in diminishing the resilience of girls in science.  This has been termed the “masculinity of science” where characteristics girls hold are overshadowed by the masculine nature of the subject.  In actual such girly characteristics like working cooperatively, valuing interdependence, seeking personal relevance, and having been observational, verbal with keen writing skills could actually promote their resilience in the actual practice of sciences. (83)

Closing the Gender Gap (Jovanovic. 1995: 1-2)

Gender Segregation of Higher Education and Occupations (Rosser. 2003: 1-2)

Possible Solutions

References

American Association of University Women Educational Foundation. 1998. "Gender Gaps: Where Schools Still Fail Our Children."
Retrieved March 31, 2004.
(http://www.aauw.org)

Hammrich, Penny L. 2002. "Gender Equity in Science and Mathematics Education." Pp. 81-89 in Defining and Redefining Gender
    Equity in Education, edited by Janice Koch and Beverly Irby. Greenwich, Connecticut: Information Age Publishing.

Irby, Beverly J. and Genevieve Brown. 2002. "Creating Inclusive School Environments." Pp. 43-52 in Defining and Redefining Gender
    Equity in Education, edited by Janice Koch and Beverly Irby. Greenwich, Connecticut: Information Age Publishing.

Jovanovic, Jasna, and Candice Dreves. 1995. "Math, Science, and Girls: Can we close the gender gap?" School-age Connections 5:2.
Retrieved March 31, 2004.
(http://www.nncc.org/Curriculum/sac52_math.science.girls.html)

Rosser, Sue V. 2003. "Testing Theories for the Gender Differences." Books et al: Sociology of Science 302: 1506-07. Retrieved March 25, 2004.
(http://www.sciencemag.org)


 

The Chilly Climate


What is the chilly climate?

The chilly climate is when faculty of different educational institutions treat males and females differently.  Whether intentional or not, the faculty’s interaction with students could make female students feel overlooked or singled out.  The females could feel less confident in what they have to offer a classroom setting because females feel they do not measure up to males (Hall, et. al  1982:2).
 
 

Examples of Chilly Climate in the Educational Setting

Language:

Words—comments by faculty in classrooms can make women feel like they do not belong (Hall, et. al 1982:6).

Examples: (Hall, et. al 1982:6)

 
Silent Attitudes:  nonverbal behavior that is intended to keep women where faculty believes they should be (Hall, et. al 1982:6).
Examples: (Hall, et. al 1982:7)

 
 
Talking Inequality in the Classroom:  (Hall, et. al 1982:8)
In Formal Groups:
Groups of Women Who Are Most Affected By the Chilly Climate: (Hall, et. al 1982: 10-12)
References

Hall, Roberta M. and Bernice R. Sandler. 1982.  "The Classroom Climate:  A Chilly One for Women?"  Project on the Status and Education of Women with the Association of American Colleges. 1-8.

Improvement for Educational Equality Among Genders


Despite the disturbing evidence this issue entitles , the research and reports concerning gendered schooling has prompted numerous efforts to improve educational practices for all students in all schools. Since the early 1990s, gaps have been narrowed in some areas of academic performance, yet the problem still remains at large. In hopes to encourage a greater strive towards gender equity in all school communities the following 10 Components of an Equitable School have been established.  (Irby. 2002: 47-48)

    1. Physical Environment
    2. Curriculum
    3. Extracurricular and Cocurricular activities
    4. Role Models
    5. Student Assignments
    6. Behavior Management
    7. Student Support
    8. Language
    9. Teaching Methods
    10. Academic Evaluation

    References

    Koch, Janice, and Beverly Irby.  2002. " Describing and Assessing an Equitable School Environment." Pp. 53-57 in Defining and Redefining Gender Equity in
    Education. Conneticut: Information Age Publishing.