Frank Felicelli
Orange County
Cedar Ridge HS
Social Studies/ History

Single Sex Instruction in a Public High School for 9th Grade World History Students

Some context

Unlike some public school educators I have been a quasi closet supporter of the controversial No Child Left Behind legislation that President Bush implemented during his first term in office.  Having been a high school teacher for 20 years I have seen my share of inefficiencies and institutional incompetence on somelevels that I agreed that something had to be done.

Freedom to be flexible is key

Many would bemoan the seemingly total institutional reliance on school report cards based on year-end assessments that have seemingly stifled teacher creativity in lesson creation—or so the criticisms go. The “we have to teach to the test” mantra that many secondary and all teachers bitterly complain about is a valid criticism that needs to be addressed.That said, one tangible benefit of NCLB has been the flexibility districts are allowed in implementing educational innovations as long as the district can justify the reason.

Why World History?

One innovation that Orange County Schools have experimented with has been the single sex educational model that is now practiced in nearly 500 districts (public and private) throughout the country. World History is a mandated core class that all high school students in North Carolina must pass in order to graduate. This class is a non-EOC course which means that there is no state generated year end assessment but rather students must pass the course and final exam that is primarily teacher generated. And since this course is a non-EOC course it allowed for more flexibility in instruction as long as the state-mandated course curriculum was fully covered.

My expectations

A perfect class to test my long held belief that sex segregation for 9th grade students (regardless of course content) would lead to significant and positive environmental changes in the classroom as well as improved content comprehension based on various assessment indicators.

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