Why girls' schools? The difference in girl-centered education.

• Author: Ransome, Whitney

"As a college professor I could identify the students from girls' schools with a 90 percent accuracy rate on the first day of class. They were the young women whose hands shot up in the air, who were not afraid to defend their positions, and who assumed that I would be interested in their perspective." (1)

--Dr. Robin Robertson

1. A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

   The past decade has witnessed a remarkable resurgence of interest in all-girls' education. (2) Since 1991, student enrollments at schools belonging to the National Coalition of Girls' Schools ("NCGS") have risen twenty-nine percent, applications forty percent, and more than thirty new girls' schools have opened. (3) These recent developments represent a significant reversal of fortune from the 1980s. Spurred on by the passage of Title IX (4) in 1972, the 1980s were characterized by a broad-based commitment to educational equity. (5) The fervor of that era led many to question the relevance and efficacy of girls' schools. (6) Single-sex schools were losing ground to co-educational institutions, which were considered by the vast majority to be the norm.

   Title IX set forth notions of equal treatment and equal access. (7) Under the rubric of this statute, any form of separation between the sexes amounted to unequal treatment. Former all-male schools and colleges were quick to admit girls (8)--a move prompted as much by economic and demographic realities as pedagogical commitment to equal access. Accompanying these newly co-educational institutions, however, was a change in assumptions about girls' schools. Girls' schools historically existed to provide quality education for young women who had been denied schooling alongside men; however, as the opportunities for co-education grew, this goal seemed less necessary. In fact, single sex education became characterized as anachronistic, out of touch with the "real world," and irrelevant. (9)

   What, then, explains the remarkable renaissance that has occurred in just over a decade's time? What has led to the renewal of interest in girls' schools? How does an all-girls education differ from a co-educational education? The answers to these questions can be found in a series of interrelated developments in educational theory, gender research, and the link between brain function and the learning process.

   These developments, however, were not solely responsible for the resurgence of girls' schools. In the late 1980s, two educators, Rachel Belash, head of Miss Porter's School (Connecticut) and Arlene Gibson, head of Kent Place School (New Jersey), issued a call to action among their girls' school colleagues. These visionary women had no doubt about the value and benefit of single-sex education, and their goal was to systematically document those benefits and to share that information broadly.

2. DOCUMENTING GIRLS' SCHOOL OUTCOMES: THE ROLE OF ALUMNAE AND PARENT RESEARCH

   The professional experience of girls' school educators informed their conviction that girls' schools had well served students of many abilities and backgrounds for generations. What was common among these schools was a long-standing commitment to learning environments that place girls first and foremost. (10) What set them apart from other schools was an in-depth understanding of how girls learn and succeed. Students at girls' schools enjoyed not just equal opportunity, but every opportunity. At girls' schools, all the speakers, players, writers, singers, and athletes were girls. All the doers and leaders were girls. Female mentors and role models were abundant. The "chilly classroom climates" (11) that permeated co-educational institutions were almost non-existent in girls' schools, and there were few signs of second-class citizenship.

   These professionals knew that their observations and understandings would be strengthened through quantitative research. Accordingly, in 1988 and 1990, two different yet related studies were undertaken. Starting in 1988, Enrollment Management Consultants (EMC) conducted a survey for the Coalition of Girls' Boarding Schools (the "EMC study"). In almost seven hundred phone interviews with families across the country, girls' schools were cited for their academic excellence and their ability to provide a communal environment that encouraged personal and academic exploration in a supportive culture. (12) Girls' schools were seen as ideal settings for adolescent girls since they supported risk-taking, encouraged academic excellence, prepared girls for college and the real world, and fostered a sense of leadership and self-development. (13)

   The second research project, the "Shulman study," was conducted by Yankelovich Clancy Shulman. Commissioned by the Coalition of Girls' Day Schools, the firm surveyed 1200 girls' school graduates. Half of those surveyed graduated between 1955 and 1960; the others between 1975 and 1980. This is what they had to say:

   * Seventy-three percent reported that their girls' school experience convinced them that women could accomplish anything. (14)

   * Seventy-five percent believed they were more self-confident as a result of their all-girls school experience. (15)

   * Ninety-one percent responded that attending a girls' school helped them focus on academics and encouraged them to test their intellectual limits. (16)

   The graduates cited the following as the key benefits of a girls' school education: academic quality, small class size, personal development, and preparation for college and careers. (17)

   Both studies supported the conviction of girls' school educators that girls' schools provided girls with a beneficial and unique experience. The EMC study, however, did contain one...