Same Different Equal Rethinking Single Sex Schooling

In this timely book, Rosemary Salomone offers a reasoned educational and legal argument supporting single-sex education as an alternative to coeducation, particularly in the case of disadvantaged minority students.

“A carefully organized, often lively . . . compendium of everything that matters in the debate: how boys and girls do in classes and on tests, their differing learning styles, and the legal tussles.”—Timothy A. Hacsi, New York Times

“Smart, objective, evenhanded. Must reading in this important debate.”—Susan Estrich, University of Southern California Law School

“Everyone concerned about inequalities in our schools and our society should want to read it.”—Michael Duffy, Times Educational Supplement (U.K.)

“If you have time for only one book and you really want to be informed about single-sex education, then make it Same, Different, Equal.”—John Borst, Education Today

“The single best book I have read about single-sex education. A must-read for every educator who is concerned about the different outcomes for boys and girls in school.”—Michael Thompson, Ph.D, coauthor of Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys

"A carefully organized, often lively . . . compendium of everything that matters in the debate: how boys and girls do in classes and on tests, their differing learning styles, and the legal tussles.”—Timothy A. Hacsi, New York Times

“Smart, objective, evenhanded. Must reading in this important debate.”—Susan Estrich, University of Southern California Law School

“The single best book I have read about single-sex education. A must-read for every educator.”—Michael Thompson, Ph.D, coauthor of Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys

A readable and objective assessment of the educational and legal issues surrounding single-sex education

Although coeducation has been the norm within private and public schools since the 1970s, single-sex education has staged a comeback in recent years as a means of addressing the academic and social problems faced by some students. Single-sex education raises controversy on ideological grounds, and in 1996 the Supreme Court struck down the all-male admissions policy at the Virginia Military Institute in a decision that has cast a legal cloud over public initiatives. In this timely book, Rosemary Salomone offers a reasoned educational and legal argument supporting single-sex education as an alternative to coeducation, particularly in the case of disadvantaged minority students.

Salomone examines the history of women's education and exclusion, philosophical and psychological theories of sameness and difference, findings on educational achievement and performance, the research evidence on single-sex schooling, and the legal questions that have arisen. Correcting many of the current misconceptions about single-sex education, she argues that it is a viable option and that the road to gender equality should be paved with diverse educational opportunities for all students--regardless of race, class, or gender.

Rosemary C. Salomone is Kenneth Wang Professor of Law at St. Johns University School of Law and a fellow of the Open Society Institute.