Same, different, equal : rethinking single-sex schooling /

The National Association for Single Sex Education held its first annual conference in August 2003. Its Web page , reports the 10-year growth from 3 to 55 US schools offering single-sex education. Salomone, a law professor and acknowledged supporter of single-sex education, has written a comprehensive book on this important movement. She summarizes three relevant areas: the legal status of single-sex education, different feminist positions as they relate to this controversial subject, and the complex and partially conflicting research on the subject. Despite Title IX legislation and the highly publicized integration rulings concerning Virginia Military Institute and The Citadel, single-sex public education is not totally constitutionally prohibited when there are compelling reasons in support and no equivalent alternatives available. Although national civil rights organizations have opposed single-sex education because of the historical record of segregated schooling, a number of local chapters and prominent individuals have supported efforts to establish single-sex schools for girls and for minority boys. The research available hints at the potential benefits of single-sex education but is limited by the difficulty in carrying out controlled studies with comparable populations. The complex issues and tantalizing, if controversial history are thoroughly covered in this well-researched volume, the only comprehensive work available to date. ^BSumming Up: Highly recommended. All levels. G. E. Hein emeritus, Lesley University

An expert on single-sex schooling enters the contentious public discussion with an even-handed and exhaustive examination of the history and politics of gender and education. Salomone, a law professor at St. John's Univ., makes a convincing, pragmatic argument: voluntary single-sex education is a legally acceptable option that ought to be widely available in the U.S., especially for disadvantaged children. In her most vivid chapter, she looks at three all-girl public schools in New York City, Boston and Philadelphia, reporting succinctly on the tradition of excellence all three claim. Salomone contextualizes these case studies and the current debate with an overview of the contemporary canon of thought about gender identity, an exercise that will cover familiar ground for many educators. Salomone also provides a confident analysis of the legal questions at stake. Based on the "separate is inherently unequal" legacy of the landmark Brown vs. Board of Education decision, liberal organizations such as the ACLU, NOW, the NAACP and the AAUW have spoken against and filed lawsuits to stop single-sex education. Salomone also considers the implications of the 1996 Supreme Court ruling against the all-male admissions policies of the Virginia Military Institute (with implications for similar litigation against the Citadel), Title IX and other legal decisions that have affected the issue. Salomone's digest of the results of experiments in single-sex teaching-among both boys and girls-is dense with statistics, but makes an effective point: the research, taken as a whole, doesn't inarguably refute or support single-gender schooling. In the end, Salomone's simple declaration that single-sex education is not harmful, and, in fact, might be beneficial to needy students feels self-evident, but nonetheless necessary in a complicated ongoing debate. (July) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved