EDvent Calendar: Day 2 (Single Sex Schools)

The myth of single-sex education. 
An overwhelming body of research shows that coeducation is better for girls and boys.

"decades of research on academic outcomes from around the world has failed to demonstrate an advantage to single-sex schooling, in spite of popular belief to the contrary. Of course, there are some terrific single-sex schools out there. However, research finds that their success is not explained by gender composition, but by the characteristics of the entering students (such as economic background), by selection effects (for example, low performing students are not admitted, or are asked to leave), and by the substantial extra resources and mentoring these programs provide."

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2011/10/the_single_sex_school_myth_an_overwhelming_body_of_research_show.html

The pseudoscience of single-sex education

This research is a challenge to popular belief:

"No, the studies don’t show that girls’ schools are better for girls. But they’re sure great at perpetuating sexist attitudes. ... Together with six co-authors, we recently published a peer-reviewed article in the journal Science, “The Pseudoscience of Single-Sex Education,”... It’s a provocative title, but our paper supported it with three lines of evidence."

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2011/10/the_single_sex_school_myth_an_overwhelming_body_of_research_show.html