Single-Sex Schooling and Academic Attainment at School and Through the Lifecourse

Sullivan, Alice; Joshi, Heather; Leonard, Diana

doi:10.3102/0002831209350106

Cited by 77 publications

(76 citation statements)

References 46 publications

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“…However, Billger (2009) Sullivan et al (2010) and Schneeweis and Zweimuller (2012) note that educational choices may become more gender-stereotyped in a coeducational setting, although Sullivan et al (2011) note that this does not explain the singlesex wage premium for girls in later life. Recent work by McCoy et al (2012) reports that girls in single-sex primary schools in Ireland are more likely to have a positive attitude towards maths than girls educated in a co-educational setting.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender, single-sex schooling and maths achievement

Doris

O’Neill

Sweetman

2013

Economics of Education Review

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Standard-Nutzungsbedingungen:Die Dokumente auf EconStor dürfen zu eigenen wissenschaftlichen Zwecken und zum Privatgebrauch gespeichert und kopiert werden.Sie dürfen die Dokumente nicht für öffentliche oder kommerzielle Zwecke vervielfältigen, öffentlich ausstellen, öffentlich zugänglich machen, vertreiben oder anderweitig nutzen.Sofern die Verfasser die Dokumente unter Open-Content-Lizenzen (insbesondere CC-Lizenzen) zur Verfügung gestellt haben sollten, gelten abweichend von diesen Nutzungsbedingungen die in der dort genannten Lizenz gewährten Nutzungsrechte. www.econstor.eu Terms of use: Documents in D I S C U S S I O N P A P E R S E R I E S ABSTRACTGender, Single-Sex Schooling and Maths Achievement * This paper examines the determinants of mathematical achievement among primary school children. Previous studies have found that boys perform better in maths than girls, particularly at the upper end of the distribution. It has been suggested in the literature that differences in the size of the maths gap across countries may be explained by differences in the prevalence of single-sex schooling. The Irish education system is interesting both for the fact that a sizeable proportion of children attend single-sex schools, and because these single-sex schools are part of the general educational system, rather than serving a particular socioeconomic group. We exploit this fact to test whether the gender composition of schools affects the maths differential at the top of the distribution. In keeping with research on other countries, we find a significant maths gap in favour of boys, but contrary to suggestions in the literature, our results provide no evidence that single-sex schooling reduces the gap. If anything, the gender differential is larger for children educated in single-sex schools than in co-educational schools. These findings are not affected by the inclusion of a proxy for early childhood ability or by the use of instrumental variables to control for potentially endogenous school choice.JEL Classification: J24, I21

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Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

Gender, single-sex schooling and maths achievement

Doris

O’Neill

Sweetman

2013

Economics of Education Review

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“…In attempt to reduce performance clefts, other research has moved beyond these factors to examine the direct role of the learning context (Park et al 2013;Sullivan et al 2010). Despite being met with considerable controversy (Bigler and Signorella 2011;Pahlke et al 2014;Pahlke et al 2013;Signorella and Bigler 2013), one solution that has been proposed is single-gender schooling.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gendersegregated learning environments have therefore been suggested to alleviate experiences of stereotype threat, a situational phenomenon whereby young women and men apprehend that their performance will be evaluated in line with gender-related expectations (Elizaga and Markman 2008;Huguet and Régner 2007;Ben-Zeev 2000, 2003;Picho and Stephens 2012). Some research indicates that gender-segregated education has a neutral impact on males' academic attainment (Sullivan et al 2010), whereas other research suggests that males benefit more from being taught in co-educational settings (Jackson and Smith 2000;Schneider and Coutts 1982).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Controlling for Prior Attainment Reduces the Positive Influence that Single-Gender Classroom Initiatives Exert on High School Students’ Scholastic Achievements

Pennington¹,

Kaye²,

Qureshi³

et al. 2019

Preprint

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Research points to the positive impact that gendersegregated schooling and classroom initiatives exert on academic attainment. An evaluation of these studies which reveal positive effects highlights, however, that students are typically selectively assigned to single-or mixed-gender instructional settings, presenting a methodological confound. The current study controls for students' prior attainment to appraise the efficacy of a single-gender classroom initiative implemented in a co-educational high school in the United Kingdom. Secondary data analysis (using archived data) was performed on 266 middle-ability, 11-12 year-old students' standardized test scores in Languages (English, foreign language), STEMrelated (Mathematics, Science, Information and Communication Technology), and Non-STEM subjects (art, music, drama). Ninety-eight students (54, 55% female) were taught in single-gender and 168 (69, 41% female) in mixedgender classrooms. Students undertook identical tests irrespective of classroom type, which were graded in accordance with U.K national curriculum guidelines. Controlling for students' prior attainment, findings indicate that students do not appear to benefit from being taught in single-gender relative to mixed-gender classrooms in Language and STEM-related subjects. Young women benefitted from being taught in mixed-gender relative to single-gender classes for Non-STEM subjects. However, when prior ability is not controlled for, the intervention appears to be effective for all school subjects, highlighting the confounding influence of selective admissions. These findings suggest that gender-segregated classroom initiatives may not bolster students' grades. It is argued that studies that do not control for selection effects may tell us little about the effectiveness of such interventions on scholastic achievement.

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“…Our previous work (Sullivan, 2009, Sullivan, Joshi and Leonard, 2010, Sullivan, Joshi and Leonard, 2011 has suggested that girls who had attended single-sex schools fared well in examinations at age 16, compared to girls who had attended co-educational schools, and that girls who had attended single-sex schools also went on to earn higher wages later in life. Also, both self-concept and participation in maths and science, English and modern languages, were more starkly gendered for boys and girls in the coeducational schools.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Elsewhere, we have reported on the educational and economic consequences of single-sex schooling (Sullivan 2009, Sullivan, Joshi and Leonard 2010, Sullivan, Joshi and Leonard 2011). In the current paper, we seek to make a substantial contribution to the neglected question of whether there are social consequences for individuals of attending single-sex or co-educational schools.…”

Section: Literaturementioning

confidence: 99%

LLCS Vol 3, Issue 1, Full Issue

2012

LLCS

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Single-Sex Schooling and Academic Attainment at School and Through the Lifecourse

Cited by 77 publications

References 46 publications

Gender, single-sex schooling and maths achievement

Gender, single-sex schooling and maths achievement

Controlling for Prior Attainment Reduces the Positive Influence that Single-Gender Classroom Initiatives Exert on High School Students’ Scholastic Achievements

LLCS Vol 3, Issue 1, Full Issue

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