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Graduates of all-girls’ secondary schools are more confident in math than their coed peers, and more likely to consider careers in engineering.  That’s according to a recently released UCLA study.  

The two-year study involved 20,000 girls in their first year of college.  3,000 of the young women graduated from all girls’ schools. Nearly 50% of girls’ school graduates felt well-prepared in math, compared to 36%  of their co-ed peers.  And girls’ from single sex schools were three times more likely to consider careers in engineering.

Meg Milne Moulton is executive director of the National Coalition of Girls’ Schools, which commissioned the study.  "The issue of confidence comes ups over and over again, and how this impacts a lot of their academic performances and sense of self, sense of involvement in politics and sense of ability to be able to  speak up is quite pronounced."
 
The report comes at a time of heated debate over single gender education. In 2006, the U.S. Department of Education made it easier for schools to offer single-sex educational programs.  But organizations like the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education have called for the rescission of these regulations. They warn that without proper safeguards, single sex education could increase sex discrimination and stereotyping.