Running head: SINGLE-SEX SCHOOLING AND ITS EFFECTS 1

Single-Sex Schooling and Its Effects

Stephen M. Darling

James Madison University

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Researchers land on both sides in the debate of single-sex schooling. Some say single-

sex schooling harms education, some say it provides benefits, and others say it has little effect

one way or another. In this paper, three scholarly sources are summarized, and then their

arguments and claims are compared and contrasted. Although these sources differ in certain

places, their arguments remain fairly consistent and tend to agree with one another. Overall, this

paper illustrates the issues behind single-sex schooling, what researches think about it, and how

the topic still holds value in todays world.

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The debate between the advantages and disadvantages of single-sex schooling has

sparked controversy among people wanting to improve the current education system. Some

believe single-sex schooling will increase focus among students, improve test scores, and

increase academic achievement (Pahlke & Hyde, 2016, p. 81). In addition, many people believe

that boys and girls hear and perceive things differently, and therefore they should be taught

differently. Other people disagree with these statements saying that effects of single-sex

schooling are small at best (Nagengast et al., 2013, p. 404) and segregating boys and girls has

similar consequences to segregating people based on race and social class (Pahlke & Hyde,

2016, p. 82). Although, many believe single-sex schooling benefits students, the evidence

against it proves that it does more harm than good to students.

In The Debate Over Single-Sex Schooling, Erin Pahlke and Janet S. Hyde make a

compelling argument against single-sex schooling. First, they give a brief history lesson about

the debate over single-sex schooling, thus providing context to the topic. Then, the authors

provide arguments for and against single-sex schooling to show merit to both sides of the

argument. According to the article, some believe that single-sex schooling will help teachers

accommodate male and female learning styles, and overall improve students performance by

removing distractions within the classroom. The article ends with talking about the

developmental issues with students who participate in single-sex schooling, and the authors

provide the necessary research to back up their claims.

The article, US principals attitudes about and experiences with single-sex schooling,

by Fabes et al., starts off in a very similar way to Pahlke and Hydes article. It provides the

background of single-sex schooling in a much longer and more comprehensive way than the

previous article. While this article does have an advantages and disadvantages section, it does
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take a stance against single-sex schooling. The main section of the article is research done with

principals from a variety schools. By doing this survey, the authors are able to get many

different opinions on the subject at hand, and they are able to provide evidence to support their

claim that single-sex schooling is ineffective. The conclusion of this article says that there is not

enough research that single-sex schooling works, and principals who adopt this method of

schooling will just create more problems for their school system.

Nagengast et al.s article, Effects of Single-Sex Schooling in the Final Years of High

School: A Comparison of Analysis of Covariance and Propensity Score Matching, provides

information and research about what single-sex schooling does to high school students in their

final years of high school. While providing a background of the topic, like the other articles, this

article does not take as big of a stand against single-sex schooling as the other articles. Instead, it

says that the effects of single-sex schooling are much smaller than some might think, especially

during the last two years of high school. In addition, this article provides charts and tables to

help create statistics and support the authors claims. The article concludes by stating that the

effects of single-sex schooling have little to no effect on the student.

All of the sources previously mentioned more or less agree that single-sex schooling can

have negative effects on students. Both Pahlke and Hydes article and Fabes et al.s article take

a definitive stance against single-sex schooling. In Pahlke and Hydes article, the authors state

that negative group norms have the potential to arise because the topic will harm their

socioemotional skills (Pahlke & Hyde, 2016, p. 83). This essentially means that when a child

gets older, they can start to develop stereotypes towards people of the opposite sex. Fabes et

al.s claims support and agree with Pahlke and Hydes, but it does so through research done with

principals from various types of schools. According to their research, some principals agree that
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single-sex schooling does not properly prepare students for real-life circumstances (Fabes. et al.,

2017, p. 305). In addition, one principal from the article explained the need to learn how to

engage appropriately with the opposite sex (Fabes et al., 2017, p. 305).

These two articles also have similarities in how they attempt to understand the issues

behind single-sex schooling. For example, Pahlke and Hydes article provides evidence finding

that boys with more exposure to same-sex peers become more aggressive over time (Pahlke &

Hyde, 2016, p. 82-83). Since boys will spend all of their class time with other boys, they will not

have as much sensitivity towards women and vice versa. Their gender will be all they will

know, and, like one of the principals in Fabes et al.s article states, any form of single-sex

education will have limitations in terms of real world comparability (Fabes et al., 2017, p.

305). Since jobs nowadays consist of both male and female, single-sex schooling does not

properly prepare the students of modern job environments.

While reading Pahlke and Hydes article, one will realize that it does not provide any

legitimate advantages of single-sex schooling. Instead, it says that evidence supporting the

positive effects of single-sex schooling is lacking because little is known about the brains of

boys and girls (Pahlke & Hyde, 2016, p. 82). In contrast to this, Fabes et al.s article gives the

idea of single-sex schooling some merit. A few of the principals reported improvements in

academics and students attitudes towards school, and other principals agree that single-sex

schooling may reduce other-sex distractions (Fabes, et, al., 2017, p. 304). Although these may

be small, they still contradict Pahlke and Hydes article.

Nagengast et al.s article also contrasts Pahlke and Hydes by stating that there is not

enough research to say that single-sex schooling is good or bad. Near the end of this extensive

research paper, the authors state that just because a school is coeducational or single-sex is
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relatively unimportant in terms of its effectiveness in producing educational outcomes

(Nagengast et al., 2013, p. 419). Pahlke and Hydes article is loaded with examples of how

single-sex schooling, and many of those examples have been referenced in this paper. In

addition, there is a paragraph in the conclusion devoted to how schools should implement

programs in coeducational schools that foster positive experiences with other-sex peers

(Pahlke & Hyde, 2016, p. 84). Schools should do this to help students get out of their comfort

zones and become comfortable with the opposite sex at an early age.

After doing the research on this topic, I can say that single-sex schooling is a much

bigger issue than I previously thought. Before this, I had no idea about the size of the debate

among researchers about the effects of single-sex schooling, and know I know that this topics

importance matters. Prior to the research, I had nothing against single-sex schooling as a whole.

I knew personally, I would not want to be in a single-sex class, and I would not want to send my

children to a single-sex school. It was a matter of personal taste, and not based off of any

negative thoughts towards the classroom structure. Now, I think that single-sex schooling has

the potential to be a problem if used extensively or incorrectly.

All of these sources had a great influence on my decision, but the second one mentioned

in this paper was the most influential. The second article provided a substantial amount of

research regarding what principals think about single-sex schooling. The first article mentioned

was the second most influential because it provided a number of credible sources to support the

authors claims. The third, and last, article was the least influential because it did not seem to

give any side credit. It contained credible sources and statistics, but since it did not side with one

viewpoint of single-sex schooling, it did not help sway my opinion. In moderation, single-sex

classes can offer advantages, but as a whole, they negatively affect younger students too much.
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Although it has its benefits, I do not believe single-sex schooling can give a great enough

improvement to our current education system.

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Fabes, R. A., Pahlke, E., Borders, A. Z., & Galligan, K. (2015). US principals attitudes about

and experiences with single-sex schooling. Educational Studies, 41(3), 293-311.

Pahlke, E., & Hyde, J. S. (2016). The debate over single-sex schooling. Child Development

Perspectives, 10(2), 81-86.

Nagengast, B., Marsh, H. W., & Hau, K.-T. (n.d.). Effects of single-sex schooling in the final

years of high school: A comparison of analysis of covariance and propensity score matching. Sex

Roles, 69, 404-422.