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LAUSD OKs Girls-Only STEM School, Plans Boys-Only English Language Arts School

Posted by Soulskill on from the who-needs-a-balanced-education dept.

theodp writes: Citing statistics that showed a whopping 46 more boys than girls passed the AP Computer Science Exam in 2011-12, the 640,000+ student Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) on Tuesday approved a waiver to enable the District to operate a single-gender, all-girls STEM School called the Girls Academic Leadership Academy (GALA). Students in GALA will follow a six year sequence of computer courses starting in middle school that will culminate in AP Computer Science Principles. "Fewer females take AP courses in math, science, or computer science, and they are not as successful as males in receiving passing scores of 3, 4 or 5," argued the General Waiver Request (PDF, 700+ pages). "An all girls environment is reasonably necessary for the school to improve the self-confidence of girls in their academic abilities, especially in STEM areas where an achievement gap currently exists. GALA's admissions shall also comply with AB 1266 to ensure male students who identify as female are admitted to the school." The school's CS-related Partners include the UCLA Exploring Computer Science Program, as well as Google-bankrolled Girls Who Code, Black Girls Code, and NCWIT. One of the reasons the all-girls STEM school reportedly got the green light is that its backers satisfied federal regulations requiring a "substantially equal school" for excluded male students by submitting a plan for a companion all-boys school that would emphasize English Language Arts, where they often fall short of girls' test scores, rather than GALA's focus on STEM. One suspects the no-fan-of-gender-restricted-public-schools ACLU may call BS on this maneuver.

6 of 599 comments (clear)

  1. Black and White? by Needs2BeSaid · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Whenever I read something about girls-only or boys-only, I like to replace the gender designations with race designations: "Citing statistics that showed a whopping 46 more Whites than Blacks passed the AP Computer Science Exam in 2011-12, the 640,000+ student Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) on Tuesday approved a waiver to enable the District to operate a single-race, all-Black STEM School called the Black Academic Leadership Academy (BALA)." ... even more interesting if you switch the races around...

    --
    Some things need to be said...
  2. Re:I thought we were trying to end sexism? by Shakrai · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Why can't we just end this bullshit and let children grow up to do want they want to do?

    Because that doesn't require any social engineering.

    --
    I want peace on earth and goodwill toward man.
    We are the United States Government! We don't do that sort of thing.
  3. Re:I thought we were trying to end sexism? by operagost · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm all for sexism. Now, what are we going to do to reverse the trend of fewer and fewer males attending and graduating college? How about the lack of male veterinarians and elementary school teachers?

    --

    Gamingmuseum.com: Give your 3D accelerator a rest.
  4. Re:Because girls just can not hack it with boys. by ShanghaiBill · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I just do not know that this is really needed. I know lots of very smart women in STEM that are very bit as talented as any male.

    There is no lack of talent, just lack of interest. I run an after school robotics and programming class at the local elementary school. The boys love it, and beg their parents to sign them up. Most of the girls are there because their tiger-parents* forced them to join. Many of the girls dropped out, especially when the tryouts for the school play started. I was very frustrated when this happened last year, so this year I recruited a nerdy mom to help out, and provide a role model. That made no difference in the dropout rate.

    I think a separate program for girls is a bad idea. It just gives them the message that they can't compete. When we form teams the kids always self-segregate by gender, but that is their choice, not something being pushed on them by the authorities. Since they are on separate gender teams, the girls are not dominated by pushy boys trying to show off. Completely separate classes are not needed.

    *ALL of the girls that participate are Asian (Chinese, Indian, or Vietnamese). I have never had a single white/black/Hispanic girl join. I live in San Jose, which has lots of Asians. If I lived in a "normal" place, the gender balance would likely be even worse.

  5. Re:Sexes ARE different, thankfully by Oligonicella · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Sweden, arguably the most gender equal country in the world has found that their men and women *still* gravitate to what are called traditional jobs.

  6. Re: I thought we were trying to end sexism? by thegarbz · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I live in a country where about half of the schools are mixed, and the other half is one of either single genders. Some teachers union (my wife is a teacher I don't know exactly what the source was) did a study and determined that gender segregation benefits girls in terms of academic performance, but hurts boys for the same.

    The wife's guess (who has taught at mixed and gender segregated schools) is that boys get competitive around girls, which seems to make some sense.