Single-Sex Schools: A Place to Learn

Single sex schooling might appear to be an obscure issue on the sidelines of the educational policy debates of our times. But it is far from this. In fact, a sizable number of people and political organizations would like to make these schools obscure, but somehow they are “scaling up” rather than down. In 1996, there were only two public single sex schools operating in America. By 2015 there are now at least 100 public single sex schools, despite opposition from the outset. These schools are primarily serving poor, urban, black and Latino, at risk children. This book takes up the challenge of studying the effectiveness of single sex schools. Riordan frees the discussion of its ideological and political baggage and brings a degree of theoretical and empirical balance to the debate. The book provides a sociological foundation for considering single sex schools. The basic argument is that the larger school context of all girls or all boys serves as the driving factor for producing favorable outcomes in single sex schools.

Table of Contents:
Chapter 1Educational Politics and Educational Policy Chapter 2Some Simple Assumptions Chapter 3What Are School Effects and How Do We Measure Them? Chapter 4What Do We Know About Single Sex School Effects? Chapter 5Single Sex School Effects are Larger for Disadvantaged Students Chapter 6What Do We Know About Public Single Sex Schools? Chapter 7 Why are Single-Sex Schools More Effective than Coeducational Schools? Chapter 8Groups and Organizations Matter

About the Author :
Cornelius Riordan has studied the effects of single and mixed sex education at all levels of schooling, and is the author of Girls and Boys in School: Together or Separate (1990) and a textbook in the sociology of education Equality and Achievement (2004). He has been a keynote speaker, panelist, researcher, project director, and author on the subject of single sex schools for twenty-five years.

Review :
No one over the past two decades has studied single-sex schooling more thoroughly than Neil Riordan. In this volume, he addresses the ongoing political and scientific debates about the contrast between single-sex schooling and co-education, summarizing the best evidence about their respective effects. The book is much more than a comprehensive snapshot, as Riordan charts the emerging terrain in which the debate is unfolding. Neil Riordan is one of the most meticulous researchers on single-sex schooling and this book once again proves that point. Breaking through the myths and confusing ideology that cloud the current debate over separate schooling, he makes a concise, thoughtful and even-handed case particularly for at-risk students. The book is a must-read for educators, policy makers, parents, and particularly those who categorically oppose the very concept of single-sex schooling.