Research Touts Coed Early Education's Impact On Social Skills

Education Week (5/8, Sparks) reports on the gender disharmony that develops among students in the early years, adding that "researchers have started to explore how to span that sex divide and are finding that more-equitable coed classrooms can have social and academic benefits for boys and girls alike." Meanwhile, "researchers at the American Educational Research Association's annual conference, held in Vancouver, British Columbia, last month, stressed that while all children naturally develop gender identity, classroom demographics and teacher practices can make a big difference in how and whether students develop sex-based stereotypes and prejudices. ... In a meta-analysis of studies based on more than 7 million children in kindergarten through 11th grade," researchers "found small average gender differences in such areas as activity level (favoring boys) and ability to focus (favoring girls), but no significant differences in mathematics or reading comprehension and 'no solid evidence that boys and girls actually learn differently.'"