Students in gender-based classes at Beaver Dam Middle School think they are doing better than students in classes with both girls and boys.
And those thoughts may help them to do better as they go on with their education.
“If they think they are doing better, then eventually they will do better,” BDMS teacher Shelly Stelsel said.
The students are part of a pilot program with two classes of 23 students each, one of boys and one of girls, that are in one of the sixth-grade “houses” and have four classes a day together – science, social studies, math and language arts. The teachers of that house have the two gender-based classes and two classes of mixed gender students.
Students who did not want to be part of the class could opt out of it.
BDMS teacher Jen Bowser said students were surveyed at the beginning of the year to see how comfortable they felt and how they felt they were doing in school. In October, the students were given another survey and the students in the gender-based classrooms thought that they were doing better than the children in classes where both boys and girls learn together.
“The data is not large, yet it’s different than that in the other classes,” Bowser said. “Kids in the gender-specific classes think they focus more than those in the mixed classrooms. “It’s not a big change — about 4 percent — but it starts to show something.”
With test scores, Bowser said the teachers have not seen a huge difference between the students in the gender-based classes versus those in the traditional classrooms.
The enthusiasm that students are showing for learning is also up in those classes, Bowser said.
“I’ve never had more enthusiasm with boys learning history,” Bowser said.
The curriculum that the students learn is the same, Bowser said, but the approach to the subjects are different.
For example, when teaching about Sparta, Bowser said she started off with talking about Spartan warriors with the boys, but with the girls she began the discussion with talking about Spartan girls.
BDMS teacher Jessica Greatens said another reason for the pilot program is to see if students are motivated to learn over time.
“It’s partly academic and partly motivation,” Greatens said. “We don’t have as many boys who are motivated to go onto school after college as girls. That is an area that we’d like to change.”
Bowser said for the girls, it can increase confidence to speak up in class in the single gender based classrooms.
“I’ve noticed the boys are much more interested in writing than what I have seen in the past,” Greatens said.
There is also a sense of camaraderie with the students in the classes, Bowser said. All the girls may not be the best of friends but they look out for one another, and the boy s have also developed their own handshake.
“There is a good sense of community,” Bowser said. “They may not all be best friends but they all respect each other and treat each other kindly.”
Parents during conferences as well as the students’ surveys have shown that the students have liked the gender based classrooms, the teachers said.
Other teachers have also been showing curiosity on how the classes are doing, Greatens said.
As for the classrooms themselves, Stelsel said there have also been fewer behavioral issues.
Although it is still too soon to tell if the classes will be a benefit to the district, the teachers will be keeping records on how the students are doing throughout the year to report the information to administration.