A case study of single-sex middle school mathematics classes in a mixed-sex public school

The purpose of this case study was to (a) examine the main and interaction effects of gender, race and class-type on mathematics achievement, mathematics attitudes and sources of mathematics self-efficacy, (b) investigate teacher-student interactions in the single-sex mathematics classes and (c) investigate perspectives about single-sex mathematics classes at the school district, school and student levels. The participants were 241 students enrolled in single-sex and mixed-sex classes in a public charter middle school in the Southeastern region of the United States, four mathematics teachers, two school administrators and one school district administrator. Data sources included students' demographic information, Iowa Test of Basic Skills mathematics scores, mathematics attitudes scores, sources of mathematics self-efficacy scores, observations, field notes and interviews. The quantitative data were analyzed using the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) statistical procedure. The results were largely non-significant for gender and class type main effects. There were significant race main effects on mathematics achievement but not on attitudes towards mathematics. These effects diminished when the data were adjusted for past mathematics achievement. There were no significant interaction effects in any of the analyses. The qualitative data were analyzed using content analysis. The teacher-student interactions in the SS classes were positive and supported learning. Most of the participants mentioned that SS classes were beneficial for girls but not for boys.