Gender and Education Are Focus of Steinhardt’s Education Policy Series

By Timothy Farrell

Recently, Georgia’s Greene County school district came under fire for its plans to segregate its public school children by gender beginning next fall. Similar policies are being debated in states across the country, leading the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development to make single-sex schooling the focus of a policy series on the issue.

      The three events examined whether gender differences in academic achievement exist, the legality of single-sex schools, and results from those who have established single-sex schools.

      Participating scholars included Marcia C. Linn of the University of California-Berkeley; Steinhardt professor Joshua Aronson; Emily Martin, deputy director of the American Civil Liberties Union; John King, managing director of the Excellence Preparatory Networks of Uncommon Schools; Ann Rubenstein Tisch, founder and creator of the Young Women’s Leadership Schools; and Kevin Jennings, founder of the Gay, Lesbian, Straight Education Network.

      “The differences in gender-effect sizes are really small,” said Linn. “We should be thinking about similarities, not differences between men and women.”

      “The series was able to bring together science, policy, and practice in a very clear but nuanced way,” said Lisa Stulberg, assistant professor of educational sociology at Steinhardt and organizer of the series. “I think that this allowed for a rich and multi-faceted set of conversations for an issue that is going to be getting a lot of attention in the near future.”