Personally, I could say that girls really do better and learn more in single-sex schools. Sorry to say but boys seem to be a bit of distraction to girls' learning. Well, I am sure that we're all aware of that. They can focus more on their lessons rather than on their crushes, hmmm... And I agree more to the later findings at http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/mar/18/secondary-schools-girls-gcse-results which is dated Wednesday 18 March 2009. http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2006/jun/25/schools.gender was dated Sunday 25 June 2006.

"Girls achieve better exam results when they are taught in single-sex schools, research has shown.
Analysis of Key Stage 2 and GCSE scores of more than 700,000 girls has revealed that those in all-female comprehensives make better progress than those who attend mixed secondaries.
The largest improvements came among those who did badly at primary school, although pupils of all abilities are more likely to succeed if they go to single-sex state schools, the study indicates.
The research by the Good Schools Guide confirms previous claims that girls benefit from being educated away from boys.
A Government-backed review in 2007 recommended that the sexes should be taught differently to maximise results, amid fears that girls tend to be pushed aside in mixed-sex classrooms.
That followed an Israeli study which suggested that when there is a big proportion of boys in a class, both boys and girls do worse academically. Results improved as the percentage of girls in a class increased.
Groups like the Girls' School Association and the Girls' Day School Trust have long claimed that they offer a better education for their pupils, but the number of state schools where boys or girls are educated separately has declined from 2,500 in the 1960s to about 400 today.
The latest research compared the results of 71,286 pupils at all-girl comprehensives to those of 647,691 girls at co-educational comprehensives.
It came as a rift developed last night over the use of elite A-level grades, with leading universities lining up to reject the new A*.
Oxford, Warwick and the London School of Economics were among 13 universities confirming they would not favour students applying after being awarded an A* in exams.
It comes despite moves by others – including Cambridge, Bristol, Imperial College London and University College London – to accept the new top grade.
Experts warned that the indecision risked causing chaos and confusion for thousands of teenagers.
The A* is being introduced for sixth-formers sitting final exams in 2010. Earlier this week, Cambridge confirmed most students would need at least one A* to get a place on undergraduate degrees.
Yesterday, The Daily Telegraph surveyed other top universities to find out how many would follow.
Bristol said admissions tutors would be free to consider the A* grade to select students. Imperial said it would be used for seven of its most prestigious subjects and UCL confirmed it would be used to dictate entry to a small number of courses.
But others insisted A* students would not be favoured until 2011 or 2012 at the earliest.
This includes Oxford, LSC, Liverpool, Durham, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Cardiff, London University's Queen Mary College, Warwick, York, Sheffield, Nottingham and Leeds."

"Advantages of Single-Sex Schools

According to long term studies of children from around the world, students achieve more and learn better in single sex schools.

An Australian study of 270,000 students found that both boys and girls performed significantly higher on standardized tests when they attended separate schools. During an experiment in Virginia in 1995, 100 eighth graders were separated just for math and science courses. Almost immediately, the girls began to achieve more, become more confident and participate more often in class.

In 2001, a British study conclude that nearly every girl regardless of her ability or socioeconomic status performed better in single sex classrooms than co-ed ones. The study of study of 2954 high schools and 979 primary schools showed that while boys at the lowest ends academically improved the most in single sex schools, single sex education was particularly beneficial to girls. Every one of the top fifty elementary schools and top twenty high schools in Britain are single sex schools.

By using magnetic resonance imaging, (MRI), researchers have begun to literally watch the human brain work. Being able to observe the physical differences between male and female brains as they function, particularly at high level tasks like tests and the SAT exam, have led to understandings in how using different teaching methods specifically designed for each sex work so well.

At an all girls schools, teachers use the latest techniques keeping with the female learning style. The textbooks and other materials don't have a male bias. Girls are more able to participate in class discussions since there aren't boys around to dominate as in co-educational schools. Girls become more confident in themselves as students and earn higher scores on their College Board and Advanced Placement examinations.

In addition, having female adult role models, the lack of male favoritism, and the absence of the expectations for girls to be nice, quiet, non-athletic, and passive led to more successful academic careers when girls began college. Professor Robin Robertson said she could identify students from girls only schools on the first day of class. “They were the young women whose hands shot up in the air, who were not afraid to defend their positions, and who assumed I would be interested in their perspective.”

Girls take over all the positions of leadership in an single sex school, whether it's drama, sports, yearbook, or debate team, and they are more likely to major in math and science in college. After ten years of studying sexism in classrooms, professors Myra and David concluded that girls stay confident and learn more in single sex schools – “where girls are the players, not the audience.”

Almost 90% of girls in co-ed high schools are affected by some form of sexual harassment. Being in an atmosphere that rails against the negative influence of mass media and its troubling depictions of women and girls is nothing but positive for teenage girls during a time when body image and self esteem are most critical.

While single sex education has been illegal in public schools since Title IX passed in 1972, applications and enrollment in private all-girls' schools has steadily risen. According the National Coalition of Girls' Schools to enrollment is up 29 percent in member schools, applications increased 40 percent, and more than thirty new schools have opened since 1991. Organized political pressure prevents experiments with single sex classrooms in public schools despite all the research that shows both girls and boys benefit from them. Most public teacher unions are against charter schools because they can be single sex.

A quarter of the female members of Congress and one-third of all female members of Fortune 100 boards graduated from all-women's colleges. Adult graduates of all-girls high schools and colleges report extreme satisfaction with their education."
http://www.boardingschoolsinfo.com/advantages_girls.html

At first blush, it would seem like a single-sex school would involve unconstitutional discrimination. Even public schools, however, can operate single-sex schools, without violating the constitution or the No Child Left Behind Act. Several rules, however, must be followed. For example, a student's enrollment in a single-sex class must be voluntary. Moreover, the school system must provide a substantially equal co-educational class in the same subject. The same restrictions apply to extra-curricular activities.

One benefit of a single-sex school is that it can accommodate the fact that boys and girls learn in different ways. Thus, teachers can adapt their teaching methods in a way best suited to either girls or boys. There is evidence that girls in single-sex schools do better in math and science than their peers in co-educational schools. Similarly, boys may do better in reading and writing.

The National Organization for Women opposes single-sex schools. They feel that, without the chance to compete with boys, girls-only schools might rely on stereotypical conceptions of the abilities of the girl students. Also, it may be better to start from the beginning of a girl's education to comp[ete with boys, because women will have to compete with men in the adult workforce.

More and more school systems are turning to single-sex schools, hoping the students will behave better and get better grades. Whether it works is a subject for debate.

I do not think I would want my daughter to be in an all-girl school for the same reason I would not want her in an all-white or all-black school. I would like for her to experience the world in all its diversity and to benefit from the differences and similarities of all the students. Also, I would not want her to think she has to be shielded from boys in order to perform well in any subject or to become a leader. Plus I assume she would enjoy forming relationships with boys and having them as friends and boyfriends.