Single-gender public schools a growing trend

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In Denver, school officials have just announced a new experiment: Offering the choice for parents to send their daughters to an all-girls public school. It’s a growing national trend, and Denver is one of the latest school systems to welcome the idea.

The all-girls charter school — named the Girls Athletic Leadership School (GALS) — will open up in 2010, and Kristin Waters, assistant superintendent of Denver Public Schools, will head up the new school’s office.

“What we’re looking to do in Denver is to have a portfolio of options for our families,” said Waters. “And when this proposal came through, they had as strong governance model, they have a strong curriculum program, and evidence of a strong leader to start the school, and so it made sense to move forward with the school.”

Bridget Ambler, a Denver mother, is ready to sign her daughter up for classes, well before the school is set to open. Ambler says her decision was based on the school’s college-bound curriculum, as well as her daughter’s desire to attend the school.

“Simply put, it was an option that as a single parent, I couldn’t afford at a private school,” said Ambler.

Ambler isn’t worried that her daughter will miss out on some of the socialization that comes with co-ed interactions.

“I’m sending her to school to learn,” she said. “This is an option that I want to enhance her academic skills. I have every confidence that she’ll keep her friendships with boys that she currently has. The goal isn’t to isolate her from boys, but to put her in a learning environment that really takes advantage of the best that academics has to offer.”

In 2002 there were 11 public schools in the US offering single-gender classrooms. Now, there are 91 single-gender schools.

Waters insists that the single-gender aspect isn’t what she’s focused on; instead it’s about providing different options. “Unfortunately, all of our schools are not doing well, and our students are not succeeding at the level that we want them to, and so to create a variety of options — this is an opportunity to do so.”

A number of critics, including the ACLU, argue that single-gender schools perpetuate antiquated gender stereotypes.

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