THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, February 9, 1995 TAG: 9502070112
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 17 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JON GLASS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 68 lines
Bowling Park Elementary, which has experimented with single-sex classes since 1987, presented a report to the School Board that suggests separating girls and boys helps them learn better.
``We feel like we have a program that's working,'' Principal Herman D. Clark Jr. said.
While statistics compiled by the school are far from conclusive, administrative officials said, the numbers are tantalizing.
For its study, the school compared the 1990-91 scores of its fourth-graders on the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills with their peers citywide. Then the school evaluated the performance of the former Bowling Park students when they took the state Literacy Passport Test in sixth grade.
The results: The Bowling Park kids, as a group, performed better on the standardized tests than students systemwide. Also, the gains made in fourth grade seemed to stick, based on their sixth-grade scores on the Literacy Passport Test.
On the Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, 81 percent of Bowling Park fourth-graders scored above the national median on the reading section, compared to 40 percent in other schools.
Bowling Park students performed even better in math, with 91 percent scoring above the median, compared to 54 percent citywide.
Two years later, Bowling Park students continued to hold their own on the Literacy Passport Test.
But girls, who out-scored boys on the Iowa, seemed to trail them after leaving Bowling Park.
On the Iowa, for example, 89.5 percent of the fourth-grade girls scored above the national median on reading and 94.5 percent were above the median in math. By contrast, 69.2 percent of the boys scored above the median in reading and 84.6 percent in math.
Two years later on the passport test, the girls no longer held that edge. Of the girls, 68.4 percent passed the reading portion and 73.5 percent passed the math section. Of the boys, 65.1 percent passed reading, while 84.6 percent passed math.
The study also suggested that same-sex classes improved attendance and reduced behavior problems. In the 1990-91 year, no student in same-sex classes received a discipline notice, the study said. The average attendance rate at the school was 93.7 percent that year, compared to 92 percent for elementary students citywide.
``Same-gender classes, if programmed correctly, can be very rewarding,'' Clark said.
So far, Bowling Park is the only school in Norfolk and in south Hampton Roads to experiment with single-sex classes. Board member Robert F. Williams has tried to drum up support for single-sex classes, especially in middle schools, where girls' interest in math and science begins to lag behind boys', according to national research.
Del. Frank W. Wagner, R-Virginia Beach, has introduced a bill in the General Assembly that would let school boards establish single-sex classes in schools. The measure would require schools annually to evaluate the academic progress of each student in such classes.
At a recent mid-year school board retreat, Superintendent Roy D. Nichols Jr. raised the possibility of gradually adding sixth, seventh and eighth grades to Bowling Park to allow students to continue in single-sex classes during their middle-school years. Bowling Park, like other elementary schools in the city, contains kindergarten through fifth grade. by CNB