The Shipley School 9th Grade Transition Study: An exploration of gender in independent school practice

Independent schools in the United States have seen many changes in the last fifty years, not the least of which has been an overwhelming trend since the late sixties and early seventies toward coeducation. At the core of many of these changes has been lack of philosophical clarity about whether boys and girls should be educated on terms of equality or in ways that attempt to address their cognitive, emotional, interpersonal and other between-group differences. The result has been that disparities in outcomes appear to persist. During the 1990\u27s, a considerable body of “advocacy literature” based on academic research appeared in mainstream nonfiction form; some volumes argued that girls were being “shortchanged” (AAUW, 1992) while others decried “the war against boys” (Sommers, 2000). The Shipley 9th Grade Transition Study observed gender dynamics in the transition into 9th grade for students at the Shipley School. The study focused on question-asking and help-seeking behaviors. All students entering the 9th grade were new to their teachers at this juncture in the Shipley curriculum, so there was an opportunity to infer adult expectations with respect to gender by correlating them with observable differences in methods of interaction with students. The Brophy-Good Dyadic Interaction System was used to assess between-group differences in classroom interactions. Interviews with students provided a picture of students\u27 perceptions and their possible gender differences. Consistent with much of the literature on gender differences in academic settings, girls proved more inclined to seek help, and boys took up more “air time” in class. The findings of the study (and in particular, the interview data) also suggested, however, that there is considerably more complexity and contingency within these outcomes. By exploring these complexities and contingencies, educators at the Shipley School may understand how better to fulfill the mission of coeducation