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Identifying the need and advantages of single-gender education options in combination with a brief history of Avon Old Farms School

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Identifier	Thesis 1799
Author	Dowling, Robert A.
Title	Identifying the need and advantages of single-gender education options in combination with a brief history of Avon Old Farms School
Publisher	Central Connecticut State University
Date	2005
Resource Type	Master's Thesis
Notes	Over the last several decades statistics reveal that there is worldwide underachievement of boys in school. Regardless of race, ethnicity, culture, or economic background, boys as a group are struggling to be effectively educated. While girls are enjoying greater success in school, too many boys are not. Why and what can be done to help improve the academic performance of boys? One explanation is that boys and girls are biologically different as school children do not intellectually develop at the same time. For years researchers and social scientists have denied the existence of gender differences and have supported gender equality. Recent research by educators and scientists has proven that biological gender differences exist and are most pronounced until the age of thirty. Brain scans cannot determine race, ethnicity, or any other biological factor, with the exception of gender. There is indisputable scientific evidence that gender differences exist. Because of these distinctions and the fact that boys and girls develop at different ages, it does not always make good sense to educate them together. Education should not be exclusively a unisex industry. Single-sex classrooms recognize the different learning styles and needs based on gender and can accommodate these differences in a professional manner. When professional educators consider gender differences, the classroom activities can be customized to emphasize the manner in which students learn and can more effectively engage students in the learning process. While there exists scientific proof that justifies the single-gender experiment, there are political and economic hurdles that are delaying immediate implementation. Things such as Title IX empower those who believe that any gender accommodation is discrimination, are presenting legal obstacles in America. Additional delays are appearing because of the potential increased cost of finding facilities or training teachers to acknowledge gender differences. While these complications are significant, they are worth challenging because something needs to be done to improve the condition, of particularly, boy education. Fortunately, the Title IX restriction is being questioned legally and there seems to be an acceptance of a relaxed interpretation of the law to permit the single-gender experiment in limited trials. The results in the private and public sector are encouraging, but the political opinion and legal availability is very much still in question. While these trials are promising and there is much positive evidence reporting the effectiveness of single-gender classrooms on learning, skeptics' criticism is not limited to money and discrimination. There are some who believe that single-gender education is inappropriate because of the social implications of separating the sexes in education. They argue that life is coeducational and that school should mirror that reality. While this is certainly a logical view, it overemphasizes socialization and slights the learning benefits of same-sex arrangements. Students benefit from schools that understand gender differences and use those distinctions to improve the learning environment. This study does not necessarily advocate a total transformation of the educational system to offer only single-gender education. It does argue that because of scientific and educational research, the single-gender experiment is worth exploration and wider implementation. Single-sex schooling should be an option. The single-gender experiment trials are researched here and the evidence is available to encourage further experimentation. This study chronicles schools in England and some in America who have been able to experiment with the single-gender settings. In each instance, the trial produced positive results. This study also lists the scientific research to prove the biological differences based on gender as a justification for the single-sex educational experiment. To understand the single-gender setting in detail, this study analyzes the history of Avon Old Farms School. The school is an all-boys school located in Avon, CT. The school was founded by architect turned educator, Theodate Pope Riddle, in 1927 and has been an all-boys school from inception. Mrs. Riddle and all of the other respective leaders of Avon Old Farms have always believed in the advantages of the single-gender setting and the superior environment for learning it provides. This paper will thoroughly examine the history of Avon Old Farms School, as it provides an example of a single-gender educational setting. This study will serve as an illustration of what happens in a single-gender setting to improve the performance of boy learning. This study acknowledges that Avon Old Farms is a private and expensive school that does not make an exact public duplication entirely possible. This study does emphasize that the most fundamental characteristic of Avon Old Farms, that it is all-boys, is feasible to mimic. Stronger test results, improved academic achievement, and personal testimonials support the effectiveness of the single-gender experiment as a helpful contribution to remedy the academic struggles of boys. While the legal and financial complications, in combination with the reluctance of many to tolerate the social implications, remain and the examination at this point is limited, the total results are encouraging and reinforce the prospect for wider implementation. While this still renders my research premature in terms of declaring a victory for the single-gender experiment, it is a positive addition to a rapidly growing understanding of gender differences in education and provides further justification and enthusiasm for the single-gender academic setting.
Subject	Single-sex schools Single-sex schools -- Connecticut -- Avon Avon Old Farms School (Avon, Conn.) -- History
Department	Department of History
Advisor	Warshauer, Matthew, 1965-
Type	Text
Digital Format	application/pdf
Language	eng
OCLC number	713734383
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