Same-Sex Classes Catch on in Public Schools

WATERLOO, Iowa, April 18, 2009— -- For many elementary school students, math can be tedious and boring. But in Mr. Ferguson's fifth grade class, even a lesson in complex fractions is a loud, raucous affair.

The all-boys class is often on its feet and huddled together. At times the students walk around the classroom to burn off nervous energy. And the boys are encouraged to blurt out answers rather than wait to be called on.

A former firefighter, Jeff Ferguson isn't afraid to get in his students' faces.

"I speak loudly to them," Ferguson said. "And if I were to talk to a girl with the same volume, they might think that I'm yelling at them, but I'm really not."

Ferguson teaches at the Dr. Walter Cunningham School for Excellence in Waterloo, which began offering single-sex classes for interested students five years ago.

"[Students] were not achieving the way we wanted them to achieve, and at that point we knew we had to think outside of the box," school principal Elizabeth Crowley said.

The classes have helped several students, especially boys, lift their grades and test scores, Crowley said. And she said there are now fewer disciplinary problems.

Charvis Bentley, 11, used to get Ds in co-ed classes before his mother enrolled him in Ferguson's class two years ago. He's now getting Bs.

"I would always get in trouble because the girls would always say something to me, and I wanted their attention," Charvis said.

Across the hall, the girls in Ms. Schmidt's second-grade class start their day by sitting in a circle, sharing their feelings, and affirming each other.

"You're a very smart girl," we heard one girl tell her best friend in the circle. "Don't hide your beautiful face."

It's a scene that might make a boy cringe, but usually there's not a Y chromosome in the room. The all-girl class is noticeably polite. They raise their hands, listen intently, and rarely talk over each other.

"It's so important that they have that time to think through the process and be able to verbalize what they want to say," teacher Amy Schmidt said.