| Abstract: | Positive effects for women and girls of all-female schools have been proposed, although there is relatively little clear empirical support for these beneficial results. Much of the cited research is based on elite all-female institutions or on parochial schools. This study takes advantage of the change of a private, nonparochial school from all girls to both sexes. Longitudinal data from grades 2 through 12 were collected over the course of the academic year to study the results of this transition. Stereotyping declined with age and over time in both types of class-rooms. Girls in single-sex classrooms showed some tendency to be more stereotyped in their perceptions of mixed-sex classrooms than did the girls who were actually in that setting. Thus, none of the measures showed any significant increase over time in stereotyping among girls in mixed-sex classes. Implications of these findings are discussed. |
