The most compelling benefits of an all-girls education include:
Increased academic and self-confidence
Increased academic performance
Increased academic engagement
UCLA Study on Single-Sex Schooling
Due to the ongoing debate over single-sex education and its benefits, UCLA's Higher Education Research Institute was commissioned in 2009 to study and compare the attitudes, behaviors and achievements of roughly 20,000 women Freshmen, 6,552 of which graduated from private all-girls high schools and 14,684 of which graduated from private co-ed high schools. Below are some key findings based on their study. You can view the entire report here.
Students at an all-girls school demonstrated higher levels of academic achievement, higher SAT scores, and more confidence in mathematical ability and computer skills. In addition, young women from single-sex high schools also show higher levels of political engagement, greater interest in engineering careers, and measurably more self-confidence in public speaking.
According to Achievement, Leadership & Success: A Report on Educational, Professional, and Life Outcomes at Girls' Schools in the United States, a survey conducted in 2000,
Nearly all the respondents (93%) either somewhat or strongly agreed that girls' schools provide greater leadership opportunities than coed schools.
The majority of alumnae (72%) either somewhat or strongly agreed that girls' schools are more relevant to young women's personal and social needs than are coed schools.
Nearly two-thirds (63%) of respondents agreed (somewhat or strongly) that girls' schools prepare young women for the "real world."