Girls and boys learn differently, so they should have an option to be taught separately.
Tests scores for both genders can improve by also using various teaching methods.
Both genders are more likely to take courses they might not have traditionally taken.
Boys or girls can get less of a quality education if they don't have access to the same resources.
The financial cost for schools can rise by having to offer duplicated resources to separated classes.
Research hasn't proved an academic benefit.
Some argue boys and girls learn differently, so they should be taught separately.
Others worry about reinforcing stereotypes about boys being leaders and girls being nurturers.
It's a debate likely to grow hotter now that the Legislature has approved a bill giving students the option of attending all-girl or all-boy classes and schools.
Kecia Patterson doesn't need to hear the science or read the studies, though.
The Northwest Jacksonville parent said it's all about the results.
Her son, Irvin, 13, is doing well in his seventh-grade studies at Ribault Middle School. For math, science, social studies and reading, he sits in a classroom of all boys.
He sees girls during electives or gym classes, on field trips and at dances and after-school games. They're even in the cafeteria at the same time, but on opposite ends of the room.
His mother said he's an average boy who worries about how he looks and what he wears, but in class he's more focused on his studies.
Ribault is one of 13 public schools statewide - other than centers for at-risk youths - to offer separate classes for boys and for girls, according to the National Association for Single Sex Public Education.
Principal George Maxey said student scores have risen in the four years since Ribault started single-gender classrooms. It's not possible to know if the scores are because of separate girl and boy classes, though, because the school also changed other practices in the past four years.
Federal guidelines give public schools the flexibility to offer single-gender classes. Some Florida school administrators felt they couldn't offer such classes based on varying legal advice, said Florida Sen. Stephen Wise, R-Jacksonville. He said he pushed for the single-gender legislation because state law was silent on it.
None of the school systems in counties surrounding Jacksonville had any immediate plans to offer such classes, according to school officials.
The proposal is awaiting a signature from Gov. Charlie Crist. If approved, it would allow school districts to offer single-gender classes or schools so long as students have access to "substantially equal" single-gender classes or schools for the other gender and for co-educational studies.
Such classes would have to be voluntary and would be evaluated every two years to make sure they comply with the law.
ACLU is opposed
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida sent Crist a letter Thursday urging him to veto the legislation.
"Research has failed to demonstrate that simply separating boys and girls produces any academic benefit," according to the ACLU. "Instead, such segregation raises the strong possibility of unequal education based on inaccurate gender stereotypes."
ACLU officials worry boys and girls will be offered "vastly different" education, from the quality of the teachers to innovative teaching methods. The group also argues the option may not be strictly voluntary if a large number of students of one gender opt for single-gender classes because there would be little chance for truly coeducational classes.
No one wants to return to the days when in some areas boys had better facilities, teachers and other resources in school, said Leonard Sax, executive director of the National Association for Single Sex Public Education.
Even though he believes the option should be available, he doesn't think single-gender education is for everyone.
"Ignoring gender differences has the unintended consequence of exacerbating gender stereotypes," he said.
Simply separating students by gender won't help, Sax said. He said teachers need to work on plans that would help both groups learn.
Just the first step
Separating boys from girls in the core subjects at Ribualt Middle School is just the first step in a multistep process that also includes teacher training and focusing on the differences between children of the same gender.
Principal Maxey said separating the children helps reduce distractions. At a school where the Florida's Comprehensive Assessment Test grade was a low F in 2004, Maxey said, administrators wanted to try something different.
The next year, Ribault offered its first single-gender classes.
Last year the FCAT grade was a high D, just missing a C by six points, according to Ribault documents. Maxey said other changes at the school, including longer class periods, helped.
Jacqueline DeVaughn, president of Ribault's Parent Teacher Association, said most parents who at first have concerns about single-gender classes like the idea once they realize the benefits to their children, including environments that seem to help students learn.
In teacher LaTonya Stafford's eighth-grade reading class, the girls are broken up into small work groups. One group is at a table talking to her. Another works on computers. A third sits doing independent reading.
When the boys enter Stafford's portable classroom, they're on their feet more. Stafford said that doesn't bother her because she knows they learn better walking around.
While she said she's found the girls are more independent and can be left alone to finish their assignments, the boys want a little more guidance and assistance from her.
In general, she said they're all more focused on the learning, because they're not worried about boyfriends and girlfriends sitting together or who's talking to whom.
For Sherraine Christopher, 15, that means more time to focus on what's important to her - reading.
"When we have boys in a class, the girls act kind of different," she said. "When we're together, they act normal."
Down the hall in teacher Shaneka Smalls' eighth-grade science class, Trakkar Cole, 13, excels with more hands-on projects and without hearing the giggling he notices often comes from girls in his school.
"It's good because we stay more focused on our work," Trakkar said.
firstname.lastname@example.org, (904) 359-4104