Annotated Bibliography

Annotated Bibliography Bigler, Rebecca S., and Margaret L. Signorella. "Single-Sex Education: New Perspectives and Evidence on a Continuing Controversy." Sex Roles (2011): 659-69. Print.

This is an informative scholarly article that provides general information and historical background on single-sex education in the United States. Although this article mentions some information on gender-segregated education in other countries in the world, it mainly addresses the issue of single-sex schooling in the United States. According to the authors, the United States is a perfect example portraying the issue of single-sex schooling, because changes over time in U.S. politics and policies have directly impacted both research and practice

But despite the legislation that was enacted in 1972, quantitative data provided in the article indicate that there has been significant growth in single-sex “classrooms” within coeducational schools in the U.S. within the last decade, with 51 schools in 2003 to 405 schools in 2011-2012. Even though federal funding was restricted to coeducational schools, the 2006 amendment to title IX, which is part of the No Child Left Behind Act, approved funding for single-sex programs within current coeducational schools. This act provided new regulations, one of which allows schools to provide single-sex classes based on the theses classes’ objectives, whether they were sex education classes, or physical education classes. The authors also discuss the factors that led to these legislative changes. The factors that were highlighted include, publication of books claiming that girls were negatively affected by coeducation, failure of American students to compete with other students in other

The aim of this paper is to provide a systematic review of quantitative research that has been done in the issue of single-sex schooling. The systematic quantitative review tackles major research questions, including whether single-sex schools are more effective than coeducational schools in terms of academic accomplishment, individual student adaptation, classroom climate or culture. For academic achievement, It was mentioned that almost all studies reported positive effects for single-sex schooling. Also, studies which examined performance in social and scientific subjects showed similar positive findings. As for individual student adaptation, a review of this category revealed a range of outcomes that cannot be easily grouped together, according to the systematic review. Also, some of the studies that were reviewed showed positive effects of single-sex schooling and others show no difference. However, when it comes to self-esteem and socioemotional development, one third of the studies supported coeducation, while around half of the other studies showed no difference. This previous point is also elaborated on by mentioning an extensive review that states that self-esteem’s relationship to school success is weak to non-existent, except for males, whose coeducation schooling experience had a positive effect on their self-esteem. The report