Single-Sex Instruction for African-American, Low-Income Students

Abstract

Single-sex instruction is increasingly popular as a means to close the standardized testing achievement gap between White and African-American students. This is especially the case in urban school districts that have high-minority, low-income populations. Research on this topic, which is limited, shows that single-sex instruction generally leads to improved outcomes for students in single-sex instruction in terms of regular attendance, graduation rates, and college acceptance. Some data shows improved standardized test scores. The data is inconsistent in terms of long-term outcomes, like college graduation rates, but is positively correlated with decreased drop-out and unemployment rates. When implemented with a gender equity focus, single-sex instruction can have positive outcomes for African-American, low-income students, both academic and socioemotional. Furthermore, such a setting provides educators the opportunity to better individualize for their students, and for teachers and students to consider the multiple contexts of students’ identities as relevant to the classroom as a result of this intersection of race, gender, and family income.