The single-gender classroom design can increase grades and test scores, according to The National Association for Single Sex Public Education. They cite evidence from several studies including a four-year Cambridge University study with 50 schools that showed same-sex classrooms are remarkably successful at improving boys' performance in English and foreign language and girls' performance in science and math. In a six-year study comparing elementary single-sex and coed classrooms, Professor of Education Kathy Piechura-Couture at Stetson University reported "Both boys and girls do better academically in single-sex classrooms: 95 percent of the boys in the fifth-grade all-boys class passed the state reading exam, compared with 68 percent of the boys in the coed class. In the all-girls class, 91 percent passed the state reading test, compared with 75 percent of those in the coed class."
Referencing a survey of over 2,000 students in same-sex classrooms, Piechura-Couture reported that 67 percent said it raised their self-esteem and 72 percent claimed more interest in learning and participating than when they were in coed classrooms. In a University of Michigan study of graduates from Catholic single-sex high schools and Catholic coeducational private schools, researchers concluded that students at single-sex schools held more positive attitudes towards academics, stronger confidence in their abilities and higher educational goals. Researchers also reported that the girls had fewer stereotyped ideas about women's abilities.
All-boy and all-girl classrooms are promoted to create learning opportunities that can break down gender stereotypes by giving students more freedom to discover their own interests and talents. The National Association for Single Sex Public Education claims evidence that girls in single-gender classrooms are more apt to explore math, science and informational technology than girls in coed settings, while boys are more likely to act on interests in music, art, drama and foreign language.
Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, believes that same-sex classrooms reinforce gender stereotypes and that "A boy who has never been beaten by a girl on an algebra test could have some major problems having a female supervisor." Lenora Lapidus, leader of the women's rights division of the American Civil Liberties Union says, "Our concern is that once you separate boys and girls you are telling them that there is some inherent difference such that they need to be educated separately," However, supporters for same gender classrooms point to research showing that boys and girls learn differently. "If you don't understand gender differences, you end up furthering gender stereotypes," says Dr. Leonard Sax M.D., Ph.D., founder of the National Association for Single Sex Public Education and author of "Why Gender Matters," Boys Adrift." and "Girls on the Edge."