Single-gender education has long been a pillar in the world of private schools, but in the past decade, several big-city school districts have opened all-boys schools designed to improve academic achievement and social-emotional skills for non-white students. Those efforts have been widely praised for the resources they are bringing to some of society’s most disadvantaged children, but also have raised concerns over whether girls of color are being unfairly left behind in this rising trend.
An Education Week Research Center analysis of federal data found that while there are more all-boys public schools in the country, more girls attend single-gender public schools. While U.S. Department of Education data indicate that there are more than 1,000 single-gender public schools, this analysis excludes juvenile-justice facilities and alternative, special education, and vocational schools. Of the schools we examined, most are racially and economically segregated: the students enrolled are overwhelmingly black and Latino and are 1.5 times more likely to qualify for free or low-cost meals than their peers nationwide.
Below is a profile of the nation’s single-gender public schools, including answers to these questions:
