The number of public schools experimenting with single-sex education is still small but has shot up in recent years — from five to at least 241 in the last decade — as districts in more than half the states take the chance that separating boys and girls will help students learn better. New guidelines expected soon from the U.S. Department of Education could help ease legal snags that have kept even more schools from trying single-gender programs. The department’s final guidelines are expected to clear up a conflict between the 2001 No Child Left Behind Act, which condones single-sex education, and the rules enforcing the 1972 Title IX law that banned sex discrimination in federally funded programs, including public schools and college sports programs. Read More

Russell Heimlich  is a former web developer at Pew Research Center.