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An Annotated Bibliography of Sources Focused on Single-Sex Education

Angelica Rinebarger

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Stanberry, K. (2010), Single-sex education: The pros and cons. Retrieved from
greatschools.org
Author Kristen Stanberry wrote on the advantages and disadvantages of single-sex education. In
her article she provides her readers, which is mostly parents, about the pros and cons of sending
their child to a single-sex school. Stanberry begins with providing background information on
the never-ending Nature vs. Nurture debate and how that plays into effect with single-gender
classrooms. She then offers information about the benefits of single-sex education, stating
students of the opposite sex can be a distraction. She also mentions some research indicates
girls learn best when the classroom is at a warmer temperature, while boys learn best when the
classroom is at a cooler temperature. After giving these arguments from advocates of single-sex
education, Stanberry informs readers of the arguments from critics. She makes good cases
providing few educators are formally trained to use gender-specific teaching techniques and
gender differences arent the same across the board, meaning single-sex classrooms arent the
best choice for every student. Stanberry also highlights students in single-sex classrooms will
one day live and work with side-by-side with members of the opposite sex and theyre not being
properly prepared for their inevitable future. She then offers information about how the public
feels about single-sex education and provides percentages on Americans that support the option
of single-sex education. Stanberry ends with acknowledging single-sex education should be
provided as an option for students where coed classrooms just arent working.
This article heightened my knowledge about the pros and cons of single-sex education. Before
the article I hadnt thought much on the subject, but after reading I became very interested. Since
the article is intended for parents, I couldnt help but think about whether or not the information
would be truly helpful if they were making a decision about their childs schooling. The answer
was yes. The article was well-written and completely unbiased. The article gave facts backed by
research and provided both the advantages and disadvantages of single-sex education. After
reading, I found I dont necessarily believe single-sex classrooms are the best alternative for
children but only because there isnt much research conducted on the long-term aspects of it. I do
agree on the suggestion that it should be an option for certain students depending on their
circumstances.

Spielhagen, Frances R. (2011). It all depends... middle school teachers evaluate single-sex
classes. Professional development, 34 (7), 12. Retrieved from EBSCO HOST.
Author Frances Spielhagen examined research conducted in single-sex middle school
classrooms. The study explored the effectiveness of single-sex classes with teachers who chose
to be there from the beginning of the school year. Its a very long (about 20 pages), but
informative article about the history of single-sex education as well as the study that was
conducted. The findings of the study were the most detailed part of the article. The conductors
gathered data from the responses of the teachers involved. Questions like Do single-sex

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strategies work? were asked at the beginning, middle, and end of the school year and the
responses had significant changes throughout.
Although it barely touches on the details of the study, the statistics and opinions of the teachers
involved are what intrigued me the most. An interesting point made in the article was Male
teachers were not willing to place themselves in presumed professional jeopardy because of their
assumptions about the risky nature of working in an all-girl school. Female teachers had no
problem working in the all-boy school, and, as a result, the faculty at the all-boy school was
diverse by gender. At the all-girls school, only one male teacher. I didnt find this hard to
believe. I can see why male teachers wouldnt want to take the chance of working at an all-girl
school because of societys double-standards. I found it to be a very good point and yet another
mention of downfall in single-sex schools. What also interested me was the data collected
throughout the school year and how it seems almost every teacher had lost hope for single-sex
schools at the end. The teachers did mention they were constantly asking for more professional
development, and even though that might have helped, this article was basically the deciding
factor of me believing single-sex schools arent something I necessarily support.

Zubrycki, Jaclyn. (2012, January 18). Single-gender schools scrutinized. Professional

development, 31 (17), 3. Retrieved from EBSCO HOST.
Author Jaclyn Zubrycki discussed the research conducted by labor economist C. Kirabo Jackson
regarding student performance in single-sex schools in Trinidad and Tobago and examines the
implications of the studys findings on single-sex education in the U.S. Zubrycki starts off the
article by giving insight into single-sex education in the United States and the statistics of how
many schools are using it. She then goes straight into the flaws in the research that was
conducted and how they may or may not be able to use this study for research in the United
States. The rest of the article is mainly comments and statements about single-sex education from
different researchers and the issues regarding the government in single-sex schools.
This article gave me a few good statistics but it was mostly the comments and statements about
single-sex education I found helpful. Dr. Leonard Sax, a retired physician and the president for
Choice in Education, stated separating the sexes does not cause academic benefits. Its an
opportunity for educators to use different teaching styles he/she contends are more suited to boys
or to girls. Personally I agree with his statement and have come to view single-sex education as
only an opportunity, seeing no true benefits of it. Overall, this article provided great
understanding into single-sex education and both the advantages and disadvantages in it.