According to Valjeaner Brewington Ford, Ed.D., there is a direct link between gender and academic performance. If properly instituted, single-sex classrooms can enhance the education of males and females. The boys' curriculum can include topics of interest specific to boys and taught with a hands-on approach to keep the boys engaged. Girls would reap the benefits of expanded educational opportunities in the math and sciences. Due to the exclusion of the opposite sex, both genders will be less distracted from their academics.
According to Ford, girls and boys have similar achievement scores in math. Girls tend to have less interest in the subject. This may be due to the fact that males generally teach math and science courses. According to an analysis done by Thomas S. Dee of test-score data and National Education Longitudinal Survey, which is based on findings from two of each of the students' teachers, he found that girls learn more when taught by women and boys learn more when taught by men.
According to Dee's findings, boys' achievement is lowered by approximately 4 percent of a standard deviation when they are taught by a female teacher. Generally, boys with a female science teacher see a drop in their scores of approximately 5 percent of a standard deviation. There is a higher incidence of female teachers seeing boys as disruptive, inattentive and noisy than seeing girls in the same light. Boys generally have more negative perceptions regarding English classes primarily taught by women than do girls.
In Dee's analysis, he found that when their teacher was a man, girls reported not looking forward to attending class and fear of asking questions; they felt the subject was not useful to their future. Student reports indicated that female science teachers were able to more effectively engage girls in the subject. In math, science and social studies, girls in the study reported that they were less likely than boys to ask questions.