AJC.com > Blogs > Get Schooled > Archives > 2007 > June > 22
Friday, June 22, 2007
Single-Sex Schools: Moving Forward Or Back?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
A former Gwinnett County Public Schools administrator wants to open a girls-only charter school in Norcross or Lilburn next year. But county Board of Education members turned down the plan last night, saying they had concerns that the campus would violate Title IX, which has barred gender discrimination in federally funded educational programs since 1972.
My oldest sister attended an all-girls Catholic high school and an all-girls college. I remember her telling me when I visited her at the College of Notre Dame years ago that she liked that the small, female-dominated campus gave her the opportunity to develop her leadership skills in a nurturing environment.
Nowadays, it seems reformers are looking for any means to turnaround a struggling public education system, including creating single-gender academies fashioned after a long-used private school model.
Atlanta Public Schools will open the metro area’s first public boys-only and girls-only middle schools this fall. Other local systems have experimented with single-gender classrooms within existing public schools.
Atlanta’s new initiative will be interesting to watch. But I can’t help wondering: Is the move toward publicly funded, single-gender campuses a step forward for children living in the 21st century or a step back?
