| A Conversation with Meg Moulton, National Coalition of Girls’ Schools |
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Meg Moulton is the force behind the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools. The Concord, Massachusetts-based organization was formed to document the value the single-gender education for girls, an increasing phenomenon in private and public education over the last 20 years. Name: Meg Milne Moulton The NCGS has 118, all-girl school members in the U.S., and 14 in Canada, Great Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Moulton believes that when girls have the classroom to themselves, there’s a huge payoff in terms of their self-confidence and academic achievement. Findings of an NCGS-commissioned study done by the University of California, Los Angeles, that back this up will be released in March. The study is the most comprehensive yet to detail the benefits of single-gender education to girls, Moulton said. For her advocacy in education for girls, the National Association of Independent Schools awarded Moulton the 2009 NAIS Global Citizen Award in February of 2009. Q: Why was the NCGS started?A: This organization was formed to document the value of girls’ schools. This was done right from the very start through significant research projects, which we have continued to implement. It was looking at the climate that fosters academic achievement, higher levels of leadership and outcomes — what happens to girls after they graduate from girls’ schools, proceed to college and into the marketplace. Once we had documented the value, we identified some perception-reality gaps in the mind of the public and parents considering a single-gender opportunity. Q: What is the history of those perception-reality gaps regarding all-girl education?A: Girls’ schools in the mid to late ‘80s and early ‘90s were dressed up in the white-glove image. They were not legally allowed in the public sector. The only option was private and parochial at that time. Since then, there has been significant research about how girls learn. A major American Association of University Women study in the early ‘90s rang a national bell that girls were being shortchanged in co-ed classrooms. Q: How do girls benefit from single-gender schools?A: They’re not sharing center stage with the boys, so they fill every position of leadership. All the academic achievers, athletes, actors, speakers, singers--all the doers and leaders--are girls. They’re not competing for positions or acknowledgment. You build self-reliance and self-confidence without the usual self-consciousness that you perhaps find in co-ed situations. The thread here is self-confidence, but the other factor in building self-confidence, which is a real life skill, is that girls are encouraged to take academic and learning risks in terms of leadership. It’s a comfortable place to learn from risk-taking, to make public mistakes, and to learn and grow personally and academically from them. Q: Does the same hold true for boys in single-gender schools?A: The same level of research hasn’t been done. Some of the words used to describe the benefits by boys in boys’ schools are the same as those used by girls in girls’ schools. They feel more comfortable taking risks and participating in humanities without the pressure of gender stereotyping. The culture of acceptance and opportunity is there, but there hasn’t been the same investment in measuring the outcomes associated with an all-boys education. Q: What are the arguments against all-girl education?A: The real world is co-ed. To educate young women for the real world, you have to do it in a co-ed setting. Our response to that is that achievement and self-confidence better prepare young women for the co-ed world. Q: What is the status of single-gender education right now?A: Currently there is a big movement to have single-gender schools in the public sector. There are financial considerations in setting up new schools, and then the word ‘segregation’ comes up because you’re creating environments determined by a child’s gender. This is different than creating separate environments determined by race, though. Single gender schools are meant to be inclusive, not exclusive.
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South Africa. Approximately 55,000 students attend the schools represented. Schools range across the spectrum: private and public, day and boarding, large and small, and urban, suburban and rural. 
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http://www.girlschools.net/