In single-sex experiment, school failed to measure

District has no data for one campus, so questions are left unanswered

Thursday, Oct. 29, 2009 | 2 a.m.

Math teacher Tommy Sieler teaches sixth grade boys at West Prep (officially called Preparatory Institute, School For Academic Excellence At Charles I. West Hall).

Steve Marcus

Eighth grade girls practice basic CPR techniques during a health class at West Prep on Tuesday. At bottom are: Klarissa Gilley, left, and Yahaira Morales, center, and Uchenna Scott.

Single-sex classes being praised on many levels (7-19-2009)

More Sun education coverage about

For six years a Las Vegas junior high school separated its seventh graders by gender for reading classes, in a bid to boost student achievement.

Did it help?

No one seems to know, and the six-year experiment may have been for naught.

The Clark County School District apparently did not try to assess, measure or otherwise examine the effects of separating the sexes at Silvestri Junior High from 2003 through the end of the 2008-09 academic year. Or at the very least, district officials have been unable to locate any documentation of the initiative’s progress.

The lack of a formal evaluation would make it impossible for the district to use the Silvestri experiment to win public support for expanding the same-sex initiative or to vie for grant money that might have helped to pay for it.

The Silvestri fumble notwithstanding, a handful of other district campuses are in the second year of a more formal approach to single-sex education, following a blueprint laid out by psychologist, author and family physician Leonard Sax, who espouses the theory that brain development in boys and girls is different enough that to thrive they need individually tailored educational environments. Student achievement and classroom behavior are being carefully documented, along with regular surveys of teachers and parents to gauge their perceptions.

“We don’t want it to become a fad and do it without really understanding the process,” said Ariel Villalobos, principal of Cortez Elementary, where students in all grades are in single-sex classrooms.

Sax said he’s not surprised that a Clark County school experimented with single-sex instruction without creating a data trail to track progress. The level of quality and commitment to the initiative can vary widely from campus to campus even within an individual district, said Sax, who has made several recent visits to Las Vegas to help train staff.

Single-sex education isn’t complicated, he said, but it does require more than simply separating boys and girls.

“In any endeavor, you improve your odds of success when you do your homework,” Sax said of preparations for the effort.

Some educators have argued that single-sex education is preferable because it removes the inherent distractions that come with mixing genders. Critics say it reinforces harmful stereotypes about the abilities and limitations of boys and girls.

The district has since 2002 used single-sex classrooms for certain subjects and grades. For the 2008-09 academic year, Silvestri was one of 12 campuses that offered such classes to try to close achievement gaps between boys and girls in math, reading and science.

This year four Clark County campuses — including Silvestri — have dropped the initiative, as a result of budget and staffing cuts. (Single-sex classes can require additional staff and space because schools must have more classes at each grade level, and give parents the option of a coed class.)

Kaweeda Adams, director of the district’s instruction unit, said if there was a past review of the Silvestri program, no record of it can be located by her office.

Kelly Bucherie, who was principal of Silvestri from about 2001 until 2004, said she was unaware of any written evaluation of the program, which began during her tenure. Bucherie, who is now an academic manager in the district’s Superintendents Schools division, said she did keep track of the program through regular conversations with the teachers, who were satisfied with their students’ progress.

The lack of hard data disappointed School Board Vice President Carolyn Edwards, whose constituency includes the Silvestri attendance zone.

“You don’t try anything experimental without having a plan to collect data and determine whether it’s working or not,” Edwards said. “After six years you would think there would be something to show for it.”

She noted that Kim Elementary, another school in her area, was starting its second year of single-sex education for all fourth and fifth graders and that administrators had shared preliminary findings with her that appear to support the benefits of the program.

The U.S. Education Department is in the midst of finalizing $4.35 billion in grants to promote reform and innovation in the nation’s public schools. But with the unprecedented resources comes higher hurdles for qualifying, said professor Margaret Ferrara of the University of Nevada, Reno, whose research focuses on single-sex education.

Successful grant applications must be supported by quantitative data — such as student test scores, attendance records and class grades — and qualitative data, which might include the findings from focus groups with parents and students or journals kept by teachers documenting their instructional approaches, Ferrara said.

The recent surge in single-sex classrooms — in 2002 just 11 public schools in the United States offered single-sex classes; this year there are 545 — followed an easing by the Education Department of the restrictions imposed by Title IX, the 1972 law banning gender discrimination in public schools.

In 2006 the Education Department decided to allow more publicly funded schools to offer single-sex classes provided certain provisions were met. Participation must be voluntary, and school districts must provide “substantially equal” learning opportunities for the students who are not segregated by gender. Districts must also evaluate the single-sex programs at least every two years.

At West Prep, a K-12 campus, Principal Mike Barton has since 2007 been dividing some of his students in grades 6-8 for math and science. Though he’s kept up with some of the research in single-sex education, Barton said, his decision was based less on theories about brain development than a desire to encourage girls to excel in subjects where they have traditionally scored lower than boys.

And girls at West are indeed doing better than they had previously in math and science, Barton said. The academic results are more mixed for the boys, although there has been a decrease in discipline issues. This year there are 17 single-sex classes at West, down from more than 40 last year. Barton said the decline is due to space constraints at West, versus disenchantment with the initiative. Student and staff support for the program remains high, said Barton, adding that no parents had requested to have their children opt out of participating.

For West eighth grader Jessica Solis, having a single-sex science class makes it easier to ask questions about health-related issues. Her math class is coed and she wishes it were single-sex because she sometimes feels “a little intimidated.”

Sixth grader Marcell Porter prefers his boys-only math class at West because “girls like to talk a lot,” and it can be distracting to have them in the room.

Science teacher Susan Marchon, who teaches both single-sex and coed classes at West, said she believes separate classes make sense as students struggle with the peer pressure issues and hormone changes that come with puberty. Instead of trying to show off for the girls, the boys focus more on their work, Marchon said. And the girls are more confident about speaking up.

But her colleague on the West faculty, math teacher Tommy Sieler, isn’t completely sold on the concept. The boys-only classes are sometimes tougher to manage, although he believes the atmosphere is probably less distracting for students who might be struggling.

Is it worth the investment in resources?

“I can’t tell you that,” Sieler said. “You really have to look at the data to have solid answer.”

Discussion: 13 comments so far…

By bouncyhair

10/29/09 at 5:40 a.m.

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"Bucherie, who is now an academic manager in the district's Superintendents Schools division, said she did keep track of the program through regular conversations with the teachers, who were satisfied with their students' progress."

How do you get hired for an administration position and not keep quantitative data on the academic trends of your students? This should be part of the administrators duties. It seems like common sense to track whether this program is working through the numbers and not just through word of mouth. We are living in a time when the only thing that really matters in the educational system is the test results. This is sad but still a reality. I am sure that the idea of this separation stemmed from improving student achievement that is measured through the CRT test. We are always told to use research tested strategies when teaching a class. How can a district go so long without backing up this system with its own research data? This is just amazing...and it probably cost extra money to implement this program.
By vsestini

10/29/09 at 6:40 a.m.

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Walt Rulffes and his cronies are the biggest 'flim flam' artists in history; this reading program is another wanton waste of time, teacher energy and our money.

What the hell is wrong with these 6 figure salaried clowns who call themsevles education adminsirators and laughingly 'educators' to begin with? How about teaching phonics, basic reading skills and allowing teachers the opportunity to do their job and be creative, innovative and inventive in is area?

They can't do that because the disrict philosophy today is to micromanage every aspect of what goes on in a classroom. Make every teacher a robot teaching exactly the same and following a mundane curriculum created by some idiot behind a desk who thinks he is a former master teacher and has the answers ... yeah, right!

Walt Rulffes is the head honcho for the district and has been leading it into this cesspool of disorganized, diseducation since he first signed his contract. He will soon retire with a hefty retirement including vacation pay, bonuses, a fat retirement. Best of all the ladies of the trustee board will award him with his name engraved for posterity on some new school... Now, that is cushy for the head Bozo of the largest financial business in Nevada.
By davidwayneosedach

10/29/09 at 6:58 a.m.

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Separating the sexes has worked well in other states. It should be no different here.
By nednougat

10/29/09 at 7:24 a.m.

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Virgil-phonics? Talk about dialing up the "Wayback" machine. We're in the 21st century, Virg. Phonics went out with record players and 8 tracks. Where it belongs.
By Tom Gorman (Staff)

10/29/09 at 7:49 a.m.

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Hey vsestini,

Your comment indicates you aren't prepared to engage in thoughtful ideas and feedback.

You say this program is a waste of time and then you criticize the district for not being "creative, innovative and inventive." So I'm guessing you didn't even read the story.

Comments ought to be on-point and advance the discussion.
By 2zero

10/29/09 at 8:31 a.m.

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Parents, it is imperative that you get involved and the best way to improve CCSD is to bring its legacy of failure to its end!

Forget trying to meet with teachers, only to learn you have to schedule meetings with teachers through the schools administration, which is discouraged by the administration.

Forget attempting to have any constructive influence at the CCSD Board because they will give you two minutes and it is like talking to the three monkeys. Only to have Janison issue gag orders or never show up at scheduled meetings. Even attempts to volunteer personal time to help improve information communication and parental involvement will fall on deaf ears.

The only solution is to BREAK UP THIS COLOSSAL POLITICAL MONOPOLY. Demand your State Representatives and future Governor pass legislation that limits the size of school district in Nevada to 100,000 students!

Washoe School District has 65,000. The school district former Board President, Councilwomen hopeful Scow, was educated at a small school district.

Folks, bigger is not better (buying power is a lie) all the data shows larger school districts fail to educate.

Today we have yet another example of the left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing or did, but as is typical we have quotes from those involved that have been promoted in spite of their lack of organizational skills and complete failure to document what is happening to your children!
By vsestini

10/29/09 at 8:53 a.m.

Comment removed by staff. Offensive language.
By Siromega

10/29/09 at 9:56 a.m.

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Blaming Walt Rulffes wont do much good. I'm sure this type of "administration" or lack thereof has been going on long before him.

No one will turn CCSD around unless they start trimming the administration and send waves through the organization that the free ride is over.
By destruct_mutt

10/29/09 at 12:54 p.m.

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So we had a race and someone (Bucherie) forgot to start the timer? Of course the next obvious choice is to run the race again.
Is this hypothesis of putting same sex classes together to see if they can learn at a better rate really worthwhile? Have they stopped administering CAT or other yearly tests in school? Can they not review this information? According to the article, these classes are even more expensive than coed classes. Are we really prepared to pay more for the same old stuff?

Why don't we look to other countries where the education system actually produces college ready students? I know a student that came here to UNLV from China as a 2nd year student whose Math level is equal to a junior to senior level Calculus in the Engineering studies.

We are panicked into believing that students can only learn under certain circumstances, the biggest fallacy being the class size. I taught Conversational English in China, in the top school in a city the same size as Las Vegas. The class sizes of the top students in this school had no fewer than 60 students per class. I would put any of the students in any class of Chinese Sophomore or Junior aged students in an English grammar test against the same age American students and I am sure of who would win. We won't even look at Math and Science why waste our time?
I will say there are a couple of things that I noticed while there. One was that each class is assigned a Head teacher for the duration of their education. One at Elementary, then another for Middle and then again for High School level. This gives the students consistency. Their head teacher knows them and their parents very well. Every semester there is a mandatory meeting for the parents to discuss the progress or lack thereof of their child, not alone, away from the other parents, but at the meeting in front of all the other parents.
In the end, when the students take the exam to pass from one level to the next, the teacher is evaluated on their performance based on the test scores of the students. This opens them up for the ability to get merit pay. Highly successful teachers become well paid teachers. I am sure there is more to it than this but the results are already there for anyone to see.
Asian students are way ahead of American. We can't compare, but by all means, run the race again.
By destruct_mutt

10/29/09 at 2:10 p.m.

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Staff
Please don't criticize, belittle me or remove my post if it somehow offends you. I am only trying to "freely" express myself. A right I believe you yourselves hold pretty close. The free exchange of ideas is exactly how we become educated.

I understand vsestini's frustration. The teachers solving a teacher problem will always come up with a more money more teacher solution to the problem. Same for an attorney, writer, painter, you get the idea. Vsestini may not be the most eloquent, well written post on this article but the point is valid. Throwing more money at a problem is not always the answer.
Have you ever heard the story of the truck that became wedged under a bridge? Similar scenario, engineers, teamsters, politicians etc., all very educated or experienced in their fields offering all manner of expensive solutions using the area of their expertise and yet the answer came from a child. Let the air out of the tires. Perhaps some competition and fear of losing their jobs and tenure/ retirement might get them to find a different solution to their lack of results.

Unruly children who won't sit still. Couldn't be that they are bored waitng for the lowest kid in the class to catch up?

The Ritalin answer hasn't solved it.

What's next?

Oh, right, segregated classes. First the boys from the girls then what? Perhaps another division? It's a slippery slope. Where does it end?
By Burrittobandit2

10/30/09 at 2:39 p.m.

Suggest removal

Didn't this start under Carlos " give me more money " Garcia?

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