Segregation in Texas Schools

With a board vote last month, Austin school officials will designate three single sex schools for the 2014-15 academic year.

In a 5-3 vote, Austin Independent School District approved to turn Pearce

and Garcia middle schools into single-sex schools. AISD officials said students who do not wish to attend these schools may choose to enroll in Dobie, Martin, Lamar or Webb middle schools. Approval was also implemented for an all-boys school at the Alternative Learning Center, to serve as a partner school for the Ann Richards School for Young Women Leaders.

Implementing single-sex schools has triggered a debate that raises political, civil rights and socioeconomic concerns. According to a study by Columbia University, some schools, mostly in the south, are “resegregating,” either by gender or by race. In Austin, the debate over segregation stems from gender divided schools.

The issue makes Ja’Michael Darnell, a student volunteer at AISD’s Houston Elementary, wonder why boys and girls should be taught separately and what proves this helps them succeed in the classroom.

“I don't think people should force kids to go to coed or single sex school,“ Darnell said. “I think kids should just choose on their own.”

The National Association for Single-Sex Public Education lists single-sex education long term in many private schools and estimates that approximately 400 public schools now offer some form of single-sex education. NASSPE research suggests driving forces in the single-sex education movement are the differences in how males and females learn.

Acknowledging this fact, Martin Smith, UT education curriculum and instruction graduate student has his own opinion on the issue of single-sex education.

 “What if an administration thoughtlessly excluded a course because it is believed more popular with the other gender,” Smith said. “You might unintentionally reinforce gender stereotypes by offering only the expected preferences that comes with single-sex education.”

            Kinnisha Joseph, an AISD Hillcrest Elementary teacher, favors the idea of single-sex schools.

“Single-sex public schools will improve the educational experiences of low-income and minority students,” Joseph said, “especially girls from these areas who are likely to miss out on programs that can help them develop.”

Since their approval by the U.S. Department of Education in 2006, support for single-gender schools has been mixed.

According to a survey conducted by AISD among households within the attendance zone of the approved single-sex schools, less than half of the families of students favor establishing single-sex middle schools. Families with students in upper elementary and middle school grades were somewhat less likely than those with students at lower grades to support a single‐gender middle school. When broken down by ethnicity and socioeconomic status, less than half of Hispanic, white and African-American families of students in AISD’s urban area support a single-sex school in their neighborhood.