A new report released this week by the National Coalition for Women and Girls in Education highlights both the amazing progress for women and girls after 35 years of Title IX and the distance still to go. The report, Title IX at 35: Beyond the Headlines (PDF), shows that, contrary to critic’s claims, educational performance for both boys and girls has improved under Title IX.
Title IX at 35 explores six areas covered by Title IX that have been focused on in recent years: athletics in schools; education in the ‘STEM’ subjects’ science, technology, engineering and mathematics; career and technical education; employment in educational institutions; sexual harassment of students; and single-sex education.
Regarding single-sex education, the report focuses on the 2006 changes to Title IX regulations by the Department of Education. These changes allow schools to provide general single-sex programs outside of the narrow field of single-sex programs allowed by the 1975 Title IX regulations, such as contact sports and sex education. These new regulations do not provide adequate safeguards against discrimination. The authors urge educators to carefully consider the dangers of single-sex education, and to ensure that they are not undoing to the progress of Title IX.