Gender, Equity, and Educational Practice

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Gender, Equity, and Educational Practice

• Debbie Campbell, District Support Facilitator
• Kentucky Department of Education
• Federal Programs and Instructional Equity

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NOTE

• This presentation was created and is based upon
  information regarding same sex classes made
  available prior to the USDOE passing a regulation
  to amend Title IX that went into effect 11/24/06.
  
• This presentation does not present the
  requirements that school districts must address
  before offering same sex classes.
  
• Research on either side of this issue is
  debatable.
  

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Objectives

• Examine national and state data related to
  gender
  
• Understand and acknowledge differences in
  learning based on gender
  
• Examine innovative educational initiatives being
  used to combat the gap in achievement between
  males and females
  
• Reflect upon implications from this research and
  how it can be applied to best meet individual
  school needs
  

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Whats the big deal anyway???

• On March 3, 2004, the United States Department of
  Education published new regulations governing
  single-sex education in public schools. These
  new regulations were required by a provision in
  the No Child Left Behind Act, a provision
  intended to allow coeducational public schools to
  offer single-sex classrooms.
• As schools struggle to maintain high standards
  and ensure that all students meet proficiency
  there has been an increased scrutiny to analyze
  achievement of student groups within the whole
  population. Gaps in achievement between males
  and females were widely noted.

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Nationally Speaking

• 70 of the students identified for special
  education services are boys. (Business Week, May
  2003)
  
• Once a boy becomes a freshman in high school, he
  is 30 more likely to drop out, 85 more likely
  to commit murder, and 4 to 6 times more likely to
  kill himself than his female counterpart. Boy
  suicides have tripled since 1970.

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• For 350 years, men outnumbered women on college
  campuses. Now, in every state, every income
  bracket, every racial and ethnic group, and most
  industrialized Western nations, women reign,
  earning an average 57 of all BAs and 58 of all
  masters degrees in the U.S. alone. There are
  133 girls getting BAs for every 100 guysa number
  that is projected to grow to 143 women per 100
  men by 2010, according to the U.S. Education
  Dept.

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• Overall, more boys and girls are in college than
  a generation ago. But when adjusted for
  population growth, the percentage of boys
  entering college, masters programs, and most
  doctoral programsexcept for PhDs in fields like
  engineering and computer sciencehas mostly
  stalled out. Women are rapidly closing the M.D.
  and PhD gap and are on the verge of making up the
  majority of law students, according to the
  American Bar Assn. MBA programs, with just 29
  females, remain among the few old boy domains.

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Societal Implications

• Since 1964, the voting rate in Presidential
  elections among men has fallen from 72 to 53-
  twice the rate of decline among women. (Pells
  Mortenson) In a turnaround from the 1960s, more
  women now vote than men.
• Men are already dropping out of the labor force,
  walking out on fatherhood and disconnecting from
  civic life in greater numbers.

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Kentucky data

• According to the statewide 2004 Kentucky
  Performance Report, females are scoring hiring at
  every level and in every content area (the
  exception being in science) than males.
• The gap widens from elementary to middle and from
  middle to high.
  
• Similar data is report on the statewide CTB with
  the most notable gaps being in reading.

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Changing How We Address Gender Issues

• Eight years ago, only four public schools in the
  United States offered single-sex educational
  opportunities.
  
• For the 2004-2005 school year, at least 156
  public schools in the U.S. offered single-sex
  opportunities.
  
• Educational research provides evidence that
  gender differences exist in the brain and in
  learning style, which require differentiated
  instruction.

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Activity Multiple Intelligences Assessment

• Take Multiple Intelligences Assessment
• Evaluate your answers
• Determine your learning styles
• Stand with the identified learning style group

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The Female Brain

• Girls brains develop sooner than males.
• Girls brain development starts in right
  hemisphere and moves to left.
  
• The Corpus collosum is 20 larger in girls, which
  means that girls can transfer data between the
  right and left hemisphere faster than men.
  
• Girls take in more sensory data.
• Girls are better at verbal communication and boys
  are better at non-verbal communication.
  

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The Male Brain

• Boys are more impulsive with behavior.
• Boys have greater spatial abilities.
• Males think from right hemisphere.
• Girls think from left hemisphere.
• Boys send messages from inner brain to brain stem
  fight or flight.
  
• Girls send messages to cortex for processing and
  complex thought.
  

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Implications for Learning

• Girls hear better.
• Girls like darker rooms.
• Males are overwhelmed with stimulation.
• Males score higher on Standardized Test.
• Males have increased ability to see spatial
  relationships
  
• Males need more space and something to touch.
• Girls are more self-critical in evaluating their
  performance.
  
• Girls are more concerned than boys are with
  pleasing adults, such as parents and teachers
  
• Boys are less motivated to study unless the
  material itself interests them.
  

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• Context enhances learning for girls, but often
  just bores the boys.
  
• Small group learning works well for girls.
• Confrontation and formal terms of address work
  well with boys.
  

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Activity Left or Right Brain?

• Fold paper in half like a book.
• On left side of paper draw a map showing driving
  directions from the grocery to your home.
  
• On right side describe in words the driving
  directions from the grocery to your home.
  

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Gender Classes and Gender Schools

• Schools eager to address gaps in achievement
  related to gender are trying gender classes and
  in some cases gender schools.
  
• In Kentucky, at least 35 schools have now tried
  gender based classes.
  
• The first to try gender based classes in Kentucky
  was Paducah Middle School located in Western
  Kentucky. They began implementation in 2001 and
  are currently in their third year of
  implementation.
• Letcher Elementary, located in Eastern Kentucky
  is in the second year of implementation of
  gender-based classes.

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Are there advantages???

• Research is still being conducted and data
  gathered. However, there is evidence to support
  the implementation of gender education instead of
  coed education.
• Finding suggest there is greater educational
  opportunities for students attending single sex
  classes or schools. Girls and boys from gender
  classrooms are more likely to explore
  "non-traditional" subjects.

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• Researchers at Cambridge University (in the UK)
  examined the effects of single-sex classrooms in
  schools in four different neighborhoods,
  including rural, suburban and inner-city schools.
  They found that "using single-sex groups was a
  significant factor in establishing a school
  culture that would raise educational
  achievement."

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Gender-Based Classes

• We are going to view video clips from Paducah
  Middle School and Letcher Elementary.
  
• Listen and hear what the students, teachers and
  principals have to say about gender-based
  classes.

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Paducah Middle School
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Letcher Elementary School
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Carolyn Spangler, PrincipalLetcher Elementary
School
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Reactions to Video

• Reactions
• Questions
• Open Discussion
• Concerns

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Other Innovations to Close the Gender Gap

• Provide teacher training on gender
• Differentiated Instruction
• Psychosocial Education
• Provide Various Learning Modalities
• Character Education

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Comments and Wrap-Up

• The ultimate classroom must have teachers,
  supported by administrators and parents, who are
  both trained and committed to gender-based
  education. (Michael Gurian, BOYS AND GIRLS
  LEARN DIFFERENTLY)