An Exploration Of Gender-Specific Instructional Practices In A Single-Sex High School

• Main Author: DeVault, John Fredrick
• Format: Others
• Language: English
• Published: W&M ScholarWorks 2020
• Subjects: Educational Leadership
• Online Access: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd/1593091584; https://scholarworks.wm.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=6883&context=etd

The achievement gap between school-age boys and girls is creating and adding to multiple contemporary cultural issues where underachieving boys have shown statistical links to decreasing workforce outputs, college enrollment and graduation, violence, and increasing prison populations. Current research suggests that single-sex classrooms contribute to larger gains in both mathematics and reading than co-educational classes for both boys and girls. This exploratory program evaluation used a qualitative design to examine the process of implementation in a single-sex academic high school environment. Teachers with experience in single-sex schools were interviewed to identify perceptions and differentiated teaching methods/strategies. Findings did not fully support the program theory. Classroom observations suggest that teachers employ very few gender-specific strategies during classroom instruction, and in cases where they exist, they are not viewed by teachers as gender-specific. Teachers who were found to use gender-specific strategies but primarily relied on their experiences rather than research on the subject. Additionally, the strategies were not consistently applied throughout the classroom observational periods. The findings suggest a relative lack of awareness and implementation of these strategies in this educational setting. Strategies and educational environments that contribute to increased performance for boys, particularly those that engage them in activities related to spatial relationships, literacy skills, hands-on learning in a safe yet structured learning environment, will ensure their readiness for today's workforce leading to more productive contributors to a global society.