In defiance of its male students, Chicago's Lane Technical High School decided to admit girls in 1971. The author was among the first class of freshman girls to enter that fall.
By Allie Bohm, Advocacy & Policy Strategist, ACLU at 1:24pm
Imagine you’re a principal confronted with these facts: according to a 2010 report, the dropout rates for Black and Latino males are well above 50 percent in most cities, and Black and Latino males are less likely than any other demographic to enroll in or graduate from college. What do you do? A) throw your hands up in disgust and frustration; B) institute single-sex classes; or C) research what actually works in improving student performance?
By Galen Sherwin, ACLU Women's Rights Project at 10:13am
Early Tuesday morning in Wisconsin, the Madison School Board voted 5-2 against a proposal to start a charter school that would have segregated students on the basis of sex, relying on a model of “gender specific” instruction. The vote marked the culmination of a year-long advocacy campaign in which ACLU-WI collaborated closely with numerous allies.
In recent years, the number of public schools segregating their students by sex has ballooned, despite mounting evidence that single-sex programs don’t improve academic performance and instead perpetuate sex stereotypes. But things are changing. This week, yet another school district — this time in Tallapoosa County, Alabama — agreed to stop segregating its 350 middle school students by sex. The development in Alabama follows a string of similar turnarounds by school districts in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Louisiana.
This week, the Pittsburgh Public School District agreed to drop sex-segregated classes at Westinghouse, a grades 6-12 public school, after the ACLU of Pennsylvania, the Women’s Law Project, and the ACLU Women’s Rights Project threatened to file a complaint with the Department of Education Office for Civil Rights.
By Ronald E. Jackson, Executive Director, Citizens for Better Schools at 11:30am
Here in Alabama and across the South, our public schools — and the children who attend them — are under continuous assault. Cuts in state funding, school closings and increases in school and class sizes are just some of the ways the quality of education for our youngsters is undercut.
The fact that many of these decisions are made locally should not be misunderstood to mean they're made democratically. In reality, it's often the opposite: School officials agree on plans in private meetings, pre-meetings, and closed-door sessions. By the time a proposal reaches a public meeting, it's often a done deal. Parents and other community members frequently have little chance of influencing school decisions.
Galen Sherwin of the ACLU Women's Rights Project was recently featured in the New York Times' Online Room for Debate discussing the drawbacks to sex-segregated education in public schools. Galen's essay was one of seven featured in the debate, which included educators and legal experts from both sides of the issue.
Yesterday, the ACLU settled a lawsuit challenging sex segregation of a public middle school in Kaplan, Louisiana. Facing a wave of recent victories in the litigation, the School Board agreed to stop all sex segregation across the entire school district for the next six to eight years.
By Galen Sherwin, ACLU Women's Rights Project at 1:04pm
When it comes to public education, there is no doubt that we are in a crisis, particularly when it comes to low-income and minority students. Unfortunately, the search for solutions has led to a movement across the country to establish single-sex classrooms and schools, many of which rely on the faulty theory that girls and boys learn differently and need to be educated separately. This is not a solution. Our sons and daughters deserve schools free from discrimination and stereotypes, including gender stereotypes.
