Executive Summary
This report represents the initial findings from the ACLU’s multi-state “Teach Kids, Not Stereotypes” campaign. This initiative was launched in May 2012 to assess the growing trend in public education of separating boys and girls based on discredited science and gender stereotypes, such as the idea that boys are better than girls in math because boys’ brains receive several daily “surges” of testosterone, whereas girls can perform well on tests only a few days per month when they experience “increased estrogen during the menstrual cycle.”1 Although our analysis of documents is ongoing with many more programs to be evaluated, our findings thus far demonstrate that many public school districts misapprehend the Department of Education’s 2006 regulations under Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 relating to single-sex classes and have instituted programs based on sex-stereotyped instruction. As such, the 2006 regulations must be rescinded, the prior regulations must be reinstated, the Department must issue guidance explaining that programs based on stereotypes are impermissible, and the Department’s enforcement efforts must be increased.
The “Teach Kids, Not Stereotypes” initiative seeks to gather information on the scope and characteristics of single-sex education programs, especially those in coeducational public schools across the country. To this end, ACLU affiliate offices around the country sent public records requests to states, school districts, and individual schools seeking documents related to the implementation of single-sex education programs in 15 states—Alabama, Florida, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Massachusetts, Maine, Missouri, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. Our goals in releasing this information are to inform the public, educators, and school administrators at the state and local levels regarding the scope and character of single-sex education programs, and to inform policy decisions of the U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights in its interpretation and enforcement of
Title IX.
Our early findings demonstrate that single-sex education programs within coeducational schools are widely out of compliance with the stringent legal requirements governing separation of students on the basis of sex, mandated by the United States Constitution, Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, and the Department of Education’s (ED) Title IX regulations.
Key findings from our investigation over the past 12 months include the following:
• Virtually all of the programs in the 21 districts profiled below were premised on the theory that “hardwired” physiological and developmental differences between boys and girls necessitated the use of different teaching methods in sex-separated classrooms;
• There is strong evidence from the documents produced and from news reports that teachers in the single-sex classes incorporated into their teaching stereotyped attitudes about boys’ and girls’ purportedly different interests, talents, and capacities.
For instance,
o Committee meeting notes of a community working group for single-sex programs in secondary schools in Pennsylvania documented a desire among the participants to ensure that students would experience “male-hood and female-hood defined space” exhibiting characteristics of “warrior, protector, and provider” for boys and giving girls “space/time to explore things that young women like [including] writing, applying and doing make-up & hair, art.”
o A Virginia school stated that “[b]oys prefer reading material that is non-fiction, or if fiction, adventure oriented. In math, boys can get interested in ‘pure’ math and geometry, without linking it to the real world applications. The female brain does not prefer such action. … girls prefer reading fiction material that does not necessarily contain much action. In math, girls generally prefer a real world application that shows them why it is meaningful. They are generally not interested in ‘pure’ math for its own sake.”
o A school newsletter from Maine describes different routines for the sixth-grade girls’ and boys’ classes: “[Y]oung ladies have . . . a daily cup of cocoa as they read the Portland Press Herald and discuss local, national and global events,” while the boys’ class contained “an exercise area within the class and all the young men have the opportunity to exercise . . .[and] signed up with the NFL Experience,” a program sponsored by the National Football League aimed at encouraging daily
physical activity.
o A Wisconsin school district collected materials that trained teachers to ask boys about literature, “What would you DO if…” while asking girls, “How might/would you FEEL if…?”; motivating boys with “hierarchy!!! Competition!!!” while motivating girls by getting them to “care”; and recognizing that boys like “[b]eing ‘On Top’ … Being a Winner!!” while girls like “[b]eing ‘Accepted’, liked, loved!!!”
• A significant number of the schools articulated no justification whatsoever for their programs, other than a belief that gender-differentiated teaching is its own good;
Data and research relied on in support of the programs for the most part consisted of material that fell far short of accepted standards for valid educational research;
• Several programs were out of compliance with the requirements that participation in sex-separated programming be voluntary and that there be a substantially equal coeducational alternative available;
• Several programs that had been in place for at least two years appear to have failed to conduct any evaluation whatsoever of their efficacy, and none of the programs profiled complied with the requirement that the evaluation include an assessment of whether the program was based on sex stereotypes.
In light of these serious legal problems, we sent cease-and-desist letters to several school districts asking that they take steps to terminate programs operating in violation of the law. Some of that correspondence is available at our Web site, http://www.aclu.org/womens-rights/teach-kids-not-stereotypes. In other states, we continue to receive and review records.
The widespread legal violations uncovered by our investigation underscore the need for greater public accountability and oversight by state authorities, and for more enforcement efforts at the federal level. Specifically, the Department of Education should act swiftly to rescind the 2006 regulations that have led to a widespread misunderstanding of the requirements for implementation of single-sex education in public schools, to reinstate the prior regulations, and to provide immediate and much-needed guidance making clear that programs based on sex-stereotyped instruction violate Title IX and the Constitution.
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