Do Children Learn Better in Same-Sex Schools?

From VOA Learning English, this is the Education Report.

Should girls go to school only with other girls? Is it better for boys to attend all-boys’ schools? Educators at a school for girls in Washington, D. C. believe children do better in classes of the same sex. But other experts say there is no real evidence to support that idea. They believe there are other, more important things that make a school effective.

Excel Academy is the first all-girl school in Washington D.C. that is independently operated and supported by taxpayers. It opened its doors in 2008. One of its students is 10-year-old Anyreah Clavijo. Anyreah attended kindergarten in a classroom with boys. She has now been at Excel for the last five years.

Anyreah says boys have different interests than girls. She praises her school, saying the staff makes her feel like the smartest person in the world. The Excel Academy provides free education to children from families without much money. It serves more than 600 girls from preschool through grade five. Three meals are served each day.

Kaye Savage established the school and is its leader. She says that when boys and girls are taught together, the teachers teach for the boys. She says boys are a little louder and much more active than the girls. She says she believes that makes girls second-class citizens in their schools. Elaine Weiss is an education expert at the Economic Policy Institute. She believes other considerations besides same-sex classes have a bigger effect on success in school. She says everything that happens in children’s early development is important.