All-Girls Schools--Pass or Fail?

Nicole Carillo recalls her years at a coed junior high school. She often knew the answers but wouldn’t raise her hand, she said, because she knew the boys would answer.

For the last four years, though, the 17-year-old has been attending the all-girls La Reina High School in Thousand Oaks and no longer holds back.

“Here I’m more sure of myself,” said Nicole, who said she has benefited from being on a campus with all female peers. “I’m more sure I can raise my hand and I won’t be laughed at.”

While stories such as these have strengthened the argument that all-girls classes and schools improve performance, a new study says that separating by sex isn’t the solution.

And at Ventura Unified, district officials last year dropped a math class directed at girls, saying they couldn’t prove the course boosted performance.

The report Thursday by the American Assn. of University Women said “there is no evidence in general” that single-sex education is better for girls than coeducation.

The same organization six years ago published a report arguing that girls in coed settings are often held back academically because of discrimination. That study has often been cited in support of single-sex education, although the association has never formally endorsed the concept.

In Ventura County, the reaction to the latest report was mixed.

*

County schools Supt. Charles Weis, who teaches a graduate-level course on education research at Cal State Northridge, said he would like to see how the report was put together.

Meanwhile, Weis said, “I think that we have to continue to try things that will help girls achieve, but if this won’t do it we shouldn’t pursue it.”

School officials at La Reina, which has been operating for 34 years, said they see daily benefits for their students.

Spanish teacher Carol Bentzen, who has taught at public and private coed schools, said she notices girls are less hesitant to come forward in the absence of boys.

“I think they feel they’re in a more relaxed setting,” Bentzen said. “There are no extra social constraints that are influencing the way they behave or respond in class.

“We say that we’ve come a long way, but my observation is girls still feel the negative stigma of speaking up as a bright girl in class. They just don’t experience that here.”

*

In the Ventura Unified School District, the practice of having math classes aimed at girls--although they never technically excluded boys--has been abandoned.

The district did not find data proving the girls were doing better in single-sex math classes than they would have in coed classes, said Pat Chandler, the district’s assistant superintendent of educational services.

“We didn’t find any compelling evidence that it was making a difference one way or another, at least in terms of girls enrolling in higher-level math [courses] or achieving a significant gain,” Chandler said.

The program was started by a Ventura High School teacher, who moved away from the district several years ago, to improve scores of female students.

After the district won national attention for the math class, a federal civil rights official warned against calling the course an “all-girls” class.

Larry Emrich, principal of Ventura High School, said a program last year was targeted instead at those who are math phobic rather than girls. This year, however, the school offered only regular math classes.

Emrich said it was difficult to compare how students fared in the special classes since there were a number of variables such as differing teaching methods and the pace of instruction.

Nevertheless, the district tracked achievements for the girls taking the specialized algebra and geometry sequence at the high school for one and two years and did not find that the classes were making a difference in grades or enrollment, Chandler said.

She did say that girls reported liking the classes more.

“They liked the strategy and the techniques the teacher used, which was more collaborative and in teaching groups,” Chandler said.

*

At La Reina, several students said they see the advantages of all-girls education every day and that they do not trust the newest study’s findings.

“I think there are definite benefits to single-sex education,” said 18-year-old Dena Rinetti.

It’s easier to learn there because there “isn’t pressure from the guys,” she said. “In class discussions you’re not suppressed. . . . Everyone listens to everyone’s opinions and ideas, so more learning takes place.”

Dena said all girls at La Reina are encouraged to take higher math courses and that the teachers take time for students who want to know not just the answer but how to get that answer.

*

“I’m in calculus,” she said. “Math isn’t supposed to be a women’s field, but it is in La Reina and we ask, ‘How did you come up with that answer?’ Our calculus teacher has headaches because we’re always asking why.”

As unfair as it may be, Bentzen said, girls still get “a certain degree of ribbing” for appearing too smart.

“It’s all right for the boys to be the brightest,” Bentzen said. “It’s still not always all right for a girl to be the brightest. Even though she may be on paper, she may not be as outspoken in the classroom.”