In Detroit, a lesson in same-sex schools

Boston officials seek approval for separate academies

Detroit has seen results from its all-girl Detroit International Academy and boys-only Douglass Academy. (Photos by Daniel Mears for The Boston Globe)

DETROIT - Time after time, their team was passed over. As other groups sized them up to be partners in the robotics competition, they kept hearing the whispers: There's no way an all-girls team could build a robot that worked.

But the self-named Pink Panthers of the Detroit International Academy for Young Women prevailed in the male-dominated event last year, proving that their motto - "designing with a woman's touch" - was more asset than handicap. That is a lesson drilled into the 525 young women who attend the three-year-old city-run school, where students are encouraged to embrace their female identity as they attempt to gain a stronger grasp of typically male-dominated subjects, such as math, science, and engineering.

"I would never have thought about joining a robotics team if I went to school somewhere else," said Amanda Johnson, 17, a senior. "Most of the time you see boy teams. And when there are girls, they usually make the trophies or design [team] T-shirts."

Detroit has been at the forefront of a growing but controversial movement that aims to boost student achievement by splitting the sexes into different schools. Now Boston officials are fighting to open the state's first single-gender public schools in more than a generation.

Proponents say all-boy or all-girl schools allow some students to better focus on learning without the distraction of the opposite sex, enabling them to excel in areas where a gender gap in achievement typically exists. National standardized tests have long shown girls lagging in math and science, and boys in reading and writing.

The American Civil Liberties Union derides the return of single-gender education - aided by a recent relaxation of federal regulations - as a misguided fad that can lead to an inferior education for all students, especially if schools adopt programs that reinforce gender stereotypes. ACLU officials say it also could represent a major setback for female students, who waged a legal battle in the 1960s and 1970s to gain access to elite boys schools. Those battles ultimately led to the end of single-gender public schools across the country and even prompted some elite private schools to go coed.

"Many proponents of single-gender education are women who graduated from elite women schools. But having these schools run by urban districts does not provide quite the same experience," said Jacqueline Washington, president pro tem of the Michigan chapter of the ACLU and a former social worker in the Detroit public schools. "There's not the same commitment to quality education. . . . Research says what works best for children is small class sizes, parental involvement, and good teaching."

The trend toward single-gender education received a major boost two years ago when the US Department of Education clarified regulations that mandate equal opportunities for female students, making it clear that single-gender schools are allowed as long as equal programs exist at a coed school.

The movement, which began before the new regulations, has led to the opening of about 100 single-gender public schools nationwide.

Earlier this fall, Boston school Superintendent Carol Johnson proposed the idea of two single-gender academies as part of a districtwide overhaul, but put the proposals on hold less than a month later when the ACLU and others questioned the legality. A state law passed in 1971, which trumps federal regulations on this issue, forbids public schools from denying admission based on gender.

Resolving the issue could be complicated. While Mayor Thomas Menino plans to have legislation filed to allow for the schools, it remains unclear whether the potential change could run afoul of the state constitution's Equal Rights Amendment. State education officials have said the issue may ultimately have to be decided by the courts.

Before the state law change in 1971, Boston had several single-gender academies. Among the schools for boys: Boston Latin School and Boston English. The all-girls schools included Girls' Latin and Jeremiah E. Burke School.

Johnson said she remains committed to pursuing the idea, but she wants to be "responsive and respectful to those in the community who have concerns about gender-specific education."

While no state in New England has single-gender public schools, New York has started a handful, according to the National Association for Single Sex Public Education.

Nationally, urban districts have been embracing single-gender schools as a way to help academically struggling students focus more single-mindedly on getting into college.

But places such as Flint, Mich., and Portland, Ore., have been forced to shut down their all-boy schools because of low enrollment, while their all-girl schools have thrived. A failure to inform the public about the benefits of single-gender education has often been the reason schools have failed to thrive. All-boys schools also frequently run into resistance from parents and boys concerned that it could encourage homosexual behavior, according to supporters of single-gender education.

"Unfortunately, we live in a sexist society and a homophobic society, and you have to take that into consideration when launching a single-gender school and undertaking recruitment efforts," said Leonard Sax, founder and executive director of the National Association for Single Sex Public Education. "You must explain to parents, 'You, the parent, must make the call for your son to attend an all-boys school.' He's got to be able to say to his friends, 'My evil witch of a mother made me do it.' "

All-girls public schools are often more popular than all-boys schools. In Detroit, enrollment at the all-girls academy has ballooned from 75 students to 525 over the past three years. But across the city, only about 300 students attend the all-boys Frederick Douglass College Preparatory Academy.

Supporters of single-gender public education say the idea is worthwhile, although the experience in Detroit shows it can require some coaxing at first.

Seventeen-year-old Sya Manica was initially upset when her mother forced her away from the boys by sending her to Detroit International Academy. But within weeks, she found herself enjoying the camaraderie among the girls and the support she received from her teachers and the principal. Over the past few years, she has gone from being a C student to an A student.

"Without this school, my life would be nothing," said Manica, a senior. "All boys do is get you in trouble as far as with babies. . . . All you need is your books. That's what will get you through life."

While research is mixed about the success of single-gender education, proponents have been seizing on a growing wave of new research showing promising results. Stetson University in Florida found in a recent three-year tracking study that students in single-gender classrooms at a local elementary school did considerably better on state standardized tests than those in coed classrooms.

Detroit has long been a hotbed in the debate over single-gender schools. In the early 1990s, a federal court judge found that the city's three male schools were discriminatory and ordered the admittance of women. The city had established the schools to boost the achievement and self-esteem of black male students.

Then, during this decade, as the movement was gaining momentum across the country, the beleaguered district decided to again try single-gender schools.

Each school started in small locations and last year moved into two old high school buildings with enough room to expand by several hundred students. In an attempt to maintain equality, Detroit strives to offer the same educational opportunities at both schools, including mandatory junior ROTC. But the schools also offer lessons tailored to specific needs of the gender they serve, such as imploring boys to stay away from violence or urging girls not to become too dependent on boys for their self-worth.

At Detroit International, Principal Beverly Hibbler is driven to help her girls out of a life of poverty by having them focus on academics without the distraction of boys. Girls often feel uncomfortable speaking up in class with boys around, studies have shown. Earlier this decade, Hibbler pitched the idea of an all-girls academy, after working for 12 years at a school for pregnant teenagers and young mothers. Occasionally, she said, she caught girls lying about being pregnant just so they could attend a school away from boys.

"What I try to teach them is that it's all about attitude," she said. "With the right attitude, you can get anything accomplished."

Parents interviewed at a college fair one evening at the school - where four times more students turned out than last year - said they believed a single-gender education has helped their daughters to excel.

"The teachers really steer the girls into a positive direction," said Tunisha Harris, an insurance company analyst who has a daughter in the 10th grade. But, she added, there are downsides. "Girls are very catty. They bicker about silly things. "

At Frederick Douglass, teachers and administrators attempt to keep the boys away from street violence and drug dealing by showing them opportunities an education can provide. The school began several years ago as a reform school for boys, but a principal hired three years ago revamped it into a college preparatory program. The boys wear khaki pants, blue blazers, shirts and ties.

"They need limits and expectations, but you can't mama them," said Joyce Hobdy, assistant principal. "I don't call them kids. I call them young men."

Nicholas Scobb, a 16-year-old junior, said he misses having girls around, but the all-boys school helped him focus more on academics instead of flirting with girls.

"The girls will be there in the future - in college," Scobb said. "That's the Promised Land."