What+are+some+pro+common+opinions?

The links on this page may be used to determine what existing opinions there are that support separation of math classes into single-sex classrooms. Students should be directed to read these sites carefully to help form evidence for this side of the debate. Due to varying reading levels, it may be appropriate to further refine this list for some students.
 * __Opinions That Support Separating Genders__ **

http://classroom-issues.suite101.com/article.cfm/singlesex_classrooms This site was chosen primarily for its readability and accessible information it provides. The site has been in place for 12 years and caters to young and aspiring writers who are generally working in the field. The site claims a readership of 15 million, which indicates a level of common access and interest. While not necessarily a scholarly site, it does seem to easily and readily inform high school students.

http://www.stetson.edu/administration/marcom/media/spring07/sax.pdf This article was published in the Stetson University magazine. The URL indicates that the source is from an educational institution (edu), so it is likely that one can read it with some assurance that it is from a reputable resource.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5036084
 * This is a podcast from NPR, National Public Radio. The program is "Talk of the Nation." Adjacent to the link for each podcast are the credentials of the guest who is speaking. In this case it is a list of professors who are involved in psychology and women's studies. NPR also has national recognition, and is generally well-respected.

http://www.edutopia.org/single-sex-education Edutopia is a well-recognized website for educators. It is funded by the George Lucas Foundation, and in 2009 won awards for its site. It provides almost daily updates on items of interest to public school teachers, billing itself as a resource for what works in public schools. It is a well-organized and easily navigable site, and should work well for the high school students involved in this project.

http://www.singlesexschools.org/home.php Another .org site, this one is home to the National Association of Single Sex Schools. While it has clear bias toward single-sex schools, the site provides great resources for those investigating the reasons and rationales for single sex education. It has readily available links to research and resources, and is at a reading level appropriate for high school students. It could be a great example for students of a reputable site that has a specific bias. This opens up the possibility for discussions about the value and purpose of such sites.

[] This link is from a local text newspaper, which gives it some credibility over a blog, but it is not clear if this paper has ulterior motives. Browsing through the website, it appears to be a reasonably unbiased newspaper. The article here discusses how a school decided to separate boys and girls in math and other classes, and saw excellent results. The reading level is not very difficult, so may be a good source for students who are not strong readers.

This is the kind of article that high school students find readily accessible. It provides them with "real life" information, and it is important to be sure that they access multiple resources rather than rely on such pieces as a sole source of information.

[|www.campbell-kibler.com/Whyme.pdf] This links to a report by the Office of Educational Research and Improvement of the  U.S. Department of Education, which describes inherent inequities in math and science classes which place girls at a disadvantage. Although this paper is somewhat dated (published in 1994), this argument is still made today, and the paper includes useful data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress, which students may want to update in order to help them shape their own opinions about whether a gender gap in math achievement still exists.

[] This links to a web page on math and science education authored by a researcher at the University of Michigan. This page provides concise, easy-to-understand summaries of some of the research from the 1990's which stimulated earlier arguments in favor of segregated math education, and offers some interesting data on the researcher's own observations in schools in Philadelphia. This type of concrete data brings to students' attention another potentially important element they should seek to use in making their cases for or against gender-segregated math education (in this case, for segregation).