One of the questions I am most frequently asked revolves around selecting a single sex or coeducational school. This decision is one of the many challenges of choosing the right school for your child. In the independent school world single-sex versus coeducation is an emotional issue with a great deal of research supporting both sides of the question. No school is right for everyone; it is important to know your own child and select the school that is best for him or her.

I believe that since we live in a coed world, we owe it to our children, boys and girls, to help them develop an appreciation and understanding of each other and the skills to interact with one another effectively in a variety of ways. I have a strong commitment to coeducation; this is easy for me to say because I am able to observe the quality of the experience of all of our students, boys and girls, Pre-K through 12, here at Shipley.

What makes it work so well at Shipley? First, our teachers understand that boys and girls are different; in fact, every student is an individual who brings different strengths to the School. The teachers strategize about the best methods to reach each one of the students so that everyone has the chance to thrive. Great emphasis is placed on the interactions between and among teachers and students. We set high expectations in and out of the classroom. Our students are challenged to take the risks necessary to become better at what they do and are supported so that, should they fail, they get up and try again. This approach enables them to learn the value of hard work and resilience and to appreciate their own individuality, interests, and skills and those of their peers of both genders. This means that they grow to respect themselves and each other, and this process significantly enhances the strong sense of community that exists at Shipley. We are preparing our students not just for the academic rigors of college, but the personal challenges of life.

I believe that good process ultimately leads to good results, so I am not surprised that our boys and girls respect and appreciate each other and succeed individually and collectively. In terms of the gender question, our students’ accomplishments speak for themselves in the classroom, on the playing fields and the stage, in the art room, and in everyday life.

When it comes to student leadership, our students have demonstrated the ability to choose the best person for the job. This year, the President of the School is a girl and the President of the Senior Class is a boy; last year it was the reverse. Most importantly, all four of them are exceptional individuals— as are so many of our students!

National data suggest that in the area of math and science, boys begin to dominate at the Middle and Upper School levels. At Shipley, our most challenging classes in these disciplines, and others, are balanced by gender. In some classes and years, there have been more boys, and in others, more girls, but overall, for the last thirteen years the breakdown of students in advanced placement math and science courses has been about 50 percent each.

With regard to general academic achievement, we see balanced results on the National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT), on Advanced Placement Exams, and in the classroom. From 2000 to 2006, 115 of our 459 seniors (56 girls and 59 boys), or 25 percent of our graduates, received formal recognition from the National Merit Scholarship Program. Similarly, during the same time period 109 of our students (53 girls and 56 boys), or 98 percent of the students taking the AB (First Semester College) Calculus Advanced Placement Exam earned advanced placement or academic credit with a score of three or better. This represents 24 percent of all of our graduates. In fact, over the past three years, 45 of the 59, or 76% of the students who took the exam actually earned a five, the highest possible score.

At Shipley we work hard to enhance our students’ experiences and reinforce the positive effects of coeducation. As a result of discussions with students and parents, we made the decision to put our boys’ and girls’ athletic teams in one league, The Friends School League, so that they could develop common rivalries, support each other, and play more balanced and appropriate schedules. It will be great to have them compete against the same school’s teams on the same day and watch each other play!

Obviously, we are proud of the quality of education that we provide for our students and delighted with their performance and growth. Nevertheless, we continue actively to examine our students’ experiences by gender to be sure that we are meeting their needs. We are active participants in the Center for the Study of Boys’ Lives, and we take seriously the studies done on girls by the American Association of University Women and such scholars as Carol Gilligan. We work hard to create an environment in which particular successful academic strategies are not narrowly defined as stereotypically boy or girl behavior. The results, we believe, are reflected in a number of areas, including the statistics I’ve already mentioned.

As we continue to look at ourselves closely and evaluate our approach to education, we are committed to treating gender in a way that supports our students in their personal and intellectual growth and helps them appreciate and understand others. We work hard to guarantee that all of our students, girls and boys, receive the best possible education so they will thrive as individuals and as a group.