Single-sex education

• Author: Lettie Rose/Maya Pierce/Juliet Dale/Isabel Miller/Lauren Zong
• Pages: 787-809

SINGLE-SEX EDUCATION

EDITED BY LETTIE ROSE, MAYA PIERCE, JULIET DALE, ISABEL MILLER, AND

LAUREN ZONG

I. INTRODUCTION ......................................... 787

II. CONSTITUTIONAL AND STATUTORY FRAMEWORK: THE EQUAL

PROTECTION CLAUSE .................................... 788

III. ELEMENTARY AND SECONDARY EDUCATION ..................... 791

A. LITIGATION AFTER THE NO CHILD LEFT BEHIND ACT .. . . . . . . . . 791

B. THE EVERY STUDENT SUCCEEDS ACT ..................... 793

IV. HIGHER EDUCATION ..................................... 794

A. TITLE IX ........................................ . 794

B. MISSISSIPPI UNIVERSITY FOR WOMEN V. HOGAN ............... 796

C. UNITED STATES V. VIRGINIA ............................ 797

V. PUBLIC POLICY CONSIDERATIONS ............................ 799

A. ARGUMENTS FOR SINGLE-SEX SCHOOLS ................... 800

B. ARGUMENTS AGAINST SINGLE-SEX SCHOOLS ................ 803

C. THE NEED FOR ADDITIONAL RESEARCH ................... . 805

VI. LOOKING TO THE FUTURE ................................. 807

VII. CONCLUSION .......................................... 809

I. INTRODUCTION

Does single-sex education provide developmental benefits and encourage

women to pursue nontraditional fields? Or does single-sex education allow gen-

der stereotypes to go unchallenged? In an educational system with a history of

segregation along gendered, racial, and economic lines, the question of whether

single-sex education promotes gender equity remains unanswered. The legality

of single-sex schooling, particularly for primary and secondary institutions, is

similarly unclear.

For a large number of public elementary and secondary school students, the

experiment is already underway. As of May 2022, about 366 public schools quali-

fied as single-sex schools or have single-sex classrooms.

1

Grace Chen, Single-Sex Public Schools, PUB. SCH. REV. (May 20, 2022), https://perma.cc/9X5L-

VVA3.

In March 2002, by contrast,

fewer than two dozen public schools offered single-sex classrooms to their students.

2

Kenneth Jost, Single-Sex Education: Do all-boy and all-girl schools enhance learning?, 12 CQ

RESEARCHER 569, 569 (2002), https://perma.cc/D355-FJBY.

While many students and parents have welcomed single-sex educational

opportunities, scholars and civil rights groups such as the American Civil

1.

2.

787

Liberties Union (ACLU) believe that the separation of the sexes in education

undermines the fight for gender equality. As a result, they have voiced strong

opposition to the expansion of single-sex education.

3

Rosemary Salomone, Evaluating Claims About the “End of Men”: Legal and Other Perspectives:

Panel IV: Education: Rights and Wrongs in the Debate Over Single-Sex Schooling, 93 B.U. L. REV. 971,

973 (2013); see also Sex-Segregated Schools: Separate and Unequal, AM. C.L. UNION, https://perma.cc/

E5JB-X7KN (last visited Sept. 19, 2022).

The original limitations on single-sex education derived from the Equal

Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

4

Congress established further lim-

itations in 1972 through Title IX of the Education Amendments, which prohibits dis-

crimination on the basis of sex in any federally funded education program or

activity.

5

Since a 2006 amendment to Title IX, the United States (U.S.) Department

of Education (DOE) has allowed for single-sex classes in coeducational schools

only in certain instances, such as in sex education classes, physical education

classes, or where the recipient of federal funding alleges an “important objective.”

6

Stephanie Monroe, Assistant Sec’y for Civil Rights, Dear Colleague Letter, U.S. DEP’T OF EDUC.

(Apr. 20, 2010), https://perma.cc/HMU7-XDLG.

This Article will examine the current legal status of single-sex schooling in pri-

mary and secondary education. Part II sets up the constitutional framework for

single-sex schooling. Part III provides an overview of the legal status of single-

sex schools in elementary and secondary education, including consideration of

the impact of the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), its successor, the

Every Student Succeeds Act of 2015, and subsequent regulations on single-sex

elementary and secondary education, as well as popular arguments for and

against increased expansion of single-sex classes and schools. Part IV discusses

legal considerations in the context of higher education, including Title IX and

major Supreme Court cases. Part V considers arguments for and against single-

sex education and the need for additional research in this area. Finally, Part VI

explores potential future challenges and changes to single-sex education. By pro-

viding an overview of the legal history of single-sex schooling in elementary and

secondary education, this Article creates a framework for understanding the cur-

rent debate over single-sex schooling.

II. CONSTITUTIONAL AND STATUTORY FRAMEWORK: THE EQUAL PROTECTION CLAUSE

The Fourteenth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits states from

denying citizens equal protection of the laws.

7

The Supreme Court has also held

that the Fifth Amendment contains an equal protection component that similarly

constrains the federal government.

8

Although the Constitution does not provide a

3.

4. U.S. CONST. amend. XIV, § 1.

5. Educational Amendments of 1972, Pub. L. No. 92–318, 86 Stat. 235 (1972) (codified as amended

at 20 U.S.C.A. 1681) (West, Westlaw through Pub. L. No. 117–262).

6.

7. U.S. CONST. amend. XIV, § 1.

8. See Sessions v. Morales-Santana, 137 S. Ct. 1678 n.1 (2017) (citing Weinberger v. Wiesenfeld,

420 U.S. 636, 638, n.2 (1975)) (“This Court’s approach to Fifth Amendment equal protection claims has

788 THE GEORGETOWN JOURNAL OF GENDER AND THE LAW [Vol. 24:787