Single-Sex Education

aka Sex-Segregated Schools
11/21/2012
Single-Sex Education

The Lasting Impacts of Single-Sex Education

By Allie Bohm, Advocacy & Policy Strategist, ACLU at 2:08pm

As a visiting student at Barnard College years ago, I attended the transfer students’ orientation where each student was asked to explain why she had chosen Barnard.  I’ll never forget one woman’s response: Well, I went to an all-girls elementary school and an all-girls middle school and an all-girls high school, and when I got to my co-ed college, I didn’t know how to function around the boys, so I decided to transfer to Barnard.  Well, that’s one solution.  I think I laughed at the time.

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03/28/2013
Single-Sex Education

Opting out of Gender Stereotypes

By Noah Saenz

This week, as part of our “Teach Kids, Not Stereotypes” campaign, ACLU affiliates across the country filed administrative complaints and public records act requests seeking investigation of single-sex education programs rooted in sex stereotypes. We learned about one of these programs from Noah Saenz, a sophomore at Valley Charter High School in Modesto, California, who contacted the ACLU about the separation of students in his advisory class. 

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12/06/2012
Single-Sex Education

I’d Like to File a Complaint

By Allie Bohm, Advocacy & Policy Strategist, ACLU at 5:10pm
Today, we’re filling formal complaints with the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights (OCR) about two schools that are teaching stereotypes, not kids.
 
Picture this: You’re in fifth grade. Maybe you’re in sixth grade. And, you go to public school. You show up for class on Monday morning, and if you’re a boy, you’re ushered into a bright classroom. You’re given the option of sitting on a bouncy ball – or of standing at your desk or even of moving around the room, if you prefer. You’re also given stress balls to play with and headphones to keep out the noise the other students make, if you chose to use them. The teacher doesn’t look you in the eye, speaks in strong, direct tones, and gives minimal instructions, leaving you to figure out how to execute the assignment at hand. Your teacher talks about “‘being a man,’ that is, an adult male who is essential to his community’s care and development.” Businessmen from the community and other role models regularly come in to meet with your class or with you one-on-one.
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08/30/2012
Single-Sex Education

Back to Coeducation in Wood County: Judge Rules School May Not Separate Students by Sex This Year

By Amy L. Katz, ACLU Women's Rights Project at 3:56pm

The Van Devender Middle School in Wood County, West Virginia, will return to coeducation next week, thanks to the efforts of a courageous mother who refused to allow her daughters to be assigned to discriminatory single-sex classes for another year. Girls and boys were separated at Van Devender for all core curriculum classes and were being taught using different methods based on dangerous sex stereotypes.

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05/21/2012
Single-Sex Education

Teach Kids Not Stereotypes

By Allie Bohm, Advocacy & Policy Strategist, ACLU at 10:23am

Today, we are sending demand letters to school districts in Florida, Maine, Virginia, West Virginia, Mississippi, and Alabama insisting that they take steps to end single-sex programs that rely on and promote archaic and harmful sex stereotypes, and we’re launching a new campaign called Teach Kids, Not Stereotypes to drive the point home. 

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11/11/2011
Single-Sex Education

Following ACLU Demands Pittsburgh Ditches Single-Sex School Plans

By Sara Rose, ACLU of Pennsylvania , ACLU of Pennsylvania & Sue Frietsche, Women's Law Project at 4:00pm

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.

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07/02/2012
Single-Sex Education

My Daughters Deserve To Be Taught More Than Stereotypes

By Jane Doe at 12:09pm

The following piece was written by a parent whose children attend Van Devender Middle School in Wood County, West Virginia. The ACLU and the ACLU of West Virginia sent a letter to the school in May demanding an end to an unlawful single-sex education program. The school board is expected to vote on whether to continue the program shortly. The author wishes to remain anonymous to protect her children’s privacy. Join the ACLU in our campaign to “Teach Kids, Not Stereotypes.”

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02/08/2012
Single-Sex Education

Single-Sex Education Will Not "Save" Minority Boys

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?

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08/15/2012
Single-Sex Education

What Happens When You Teach Stereotypes Instead of Kids?

By Amy L. Katz, ACLU Women's Rights Project at 6:00pm

Some school officials in West Virginia think boys and girls are so “hard-wired” to learn differently that they have implemented some major changes in their middle school: boys and girls are separated into different classrooms for all their academic classes and  taught using radically different methods.

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10/14/2011
Single-Sex Education

Experimenting with Sex Segregation in the Classroom? Not with My Girls

By Jane Doe at 4:39pm

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.

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