Achievement, Leadership & Success

A Report on Educational, Professional, and Life Outcomes
at Girls' Schools in the United States

Executive Summary, January 2000
Presenting findings of the Goodman Research Group, Inc.

Preface

At a time when students, families and policy-makers are actively exploring educational options, a prime topic of debate is that of single-sex versus coeducational schooling. A great deal of opinion has been offered on the subject, much of it theoretically driven and much of it prone to misinterpretation.

 

A prime example is the American Association of University Women's 1998 report, Separated by Sex: A Critical Look at Single-Sex Education. The media, by and large, interpreted and spun this report as a negative commentary on girls' schools. However, as an ensuing Wall Street Journal editorial pointed out, the report was "at worst uncertain about the schools' benefits, and in many places says all sorts of positive things about them." (March 13, 1998.)

 

Largely absent from the debate has been hard, scientific data assessing the defining characteristics of girls' schools: that they have benefits for girls' academic achievement; that they are affirmative for females in sex-typed subject areas such as science and math; that they are beneficial for female career aspirations; and that they are beneficial for positive sex-role attitudes and self-esteem.

 

Largely absent, also, have been the voices of girls' school graduates themselves. Apart from the National Coalition of Girls' Schools, virtually no one has systematically, and across a spectrum of schools, cataloged the opinions of young women who actually have experienced single-sex education.

 

To provide such data, the Coalition contracted with Goodman Research Group, Inc. (GRG), an education research and evaluation firm based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, to conduct a large-scale mail survey of NCGS member schools' alumnae. Past clients of GRG include Harvard University; the National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health; the National Science Foundation; the Connecticut Department of Education; the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation; and the Wildlife Conservation Society.

 

GRG's six-page survey gathered information about graduates' girls' school experiences, their post-secondary and employment experiences, and their home lives and related issues. In all, 4,274 alumnae from the graduating classes of 1983, 1987, 1991, and 1995 at 64 NCGS schools provided data quantifying their experiences.

 

Their message is clear: They place an enormous value on their educations at girls' schools. They are confident in their abilities. They are academic achievers. They are leaders. And they credit girls' schools as the places they learned to recognize and harness their talents and potentials. As one alumna put it, by attending a girls' school "I discovered who I was and what I was capable of accomplishing."

Meg Milne Moulton and Whitney Ransome
Executive Directors
The National Coalition of Girls' Schools
January, 2000

Key Findings

Alumnae believed their girls' schools were effectively meeting their goals of offering young women a high-quality educational experience, providing them with leadership opportunities, and encouraging their personal growth. Furthermore, they reported distinct advantages of attending a girls' school. Most of them would choose a girls' school again if they had it to do over.

 

• The majority of alumnae (85%) assigned one of the top two ratings of very good or excellent to their girls' school overall, and to 14 of 16 specific aspects about their girls' school. Top-rated were preparation for college academics and providing academic challenge; nearly all the respondents (91%) rated their schools as very good or excellent in these areas.
• About three-fourths (73%) of the alumnae felt that their girls' school experience was an advantage (either somewhat of an advantage or a big advantage) when choosing a college (74%) and when deciding to take on leadership roles. Also, 78% rated their schools as very good or excellent in terms of instilling self-confidence.
  
• Most alumnae said they would repeat their girls' school experience if they had it to do over again (88% either definitely or probably), and would also encourage their daughter to have the same experience (84%). Even some of the women who had less positive attitudes about girls' schools (for example, perceiving a lack of preparation for interaction with men) indicated they would choose a girls' school again.

 

Alumnae have very positive attitudes about academics and leadership at girls' schools as compared to 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. Similarly, nearly two-thirds (63%) of respondents agreed (somewhat or strongly) that girls' schools prepare young women for the "real world."
  
• Nearly all the respondents (93%) either somewhat or strongly agreed that girls' schools provide greater leadership opportunities than coed schools.
  
• There also was marked agreement that girls' schools are more relevant to young women's academic needs than are coed schools (91% somewhat or strongly agreed), that young women should be encouraged to attend girls' schools (87%), and that girls' schools provide young women with more encouragement in the areas of science, math, and technology than do coed schools (85%).

 

NCGS alumnae believe they were better prepared for most aspects of college than women who attended coed high schools.

 

• Overall, 71% of girls' school alumnae felt more prepared to transition to college than their counterparts from coed high schools.
  
• Girls' school alumnae felt their biggest advantage relative to female college classmates who had attended coed high schools was their overall academic preparation; the majority of respondents (85%) perceived themselves as better prepared than other women.
  
• Respondents also were positive about their preparation for the college classroom -- in terms of class participation and academic engagement with faculty -- and their preparation in the areas of self-confidence and leadership. In each of these areas, more than 80% of girls' school alumnae felt their preparation to be superior to that of women from coed high schools.
  
• Regarding specific academic disciplines, three-quarters of respondents indicated they were more prepared for humanities in college than their coed school counterparts. Almost two-thirds each said they were more prepared for college science (62%) and mathematics (62%).
  
• A majority (62%) felt they were better or equally prepared to interact academically or socially with men as a result of their girls' school experience, as compared to coed school graduates.

 

Achievement indicators suggest that girls' school alumnae enter college with test scores above the norm. Once in college, they major in science and math at a higher rate than females and males nationwide.

 

• The average SAT Math and Verbal scores of NCGS alumnae were both 588, compared to 477 Math and 427 Verbal nationally for females and males combined during the same period. Across cohorts, NCGS alumnae consistently outscored females and males nationwide on both sections of the SAT. Respondents' average college G.P.A. was 3.3.
• Nearly all the respondents (94%) had attended or were currently attending college. Of those who had earned a Bachelor''s degree, the majority had attended coed colleges (93%). The competitiveness of their colleges varied among most (28%), very (37%), and moderately (33%) difficult schools; only 2% of alumnae college graduates had attended minimally difficult or noncompetitive institutions, as rated by Peterson's Guide to Four-Year Colleges, 28th edition.
• The most common majors were English, Psychology, Political Science, and History. More than one-third (36%) of the respondents who had earned a Bachelor's degree had graduated with a minor. A minor in the languages was the most common (16%).
• In science and math, NCGS alumnae majored at a higher rate than females and males nationally (13% NCGS, compared to 2% females and 10% males nationally, as reported by the National Center for Education Statistics).

 

NCGS alumnae are leaders at work and within their communities.

 

• Sixty percent (60%) of college graduates were employed at the time of the survey. The majority (83%) were employed full-time, the most common fields being Business, Education, Arts and Entertainment, Law, and Sales.
• Comparisons with women's fields of employment nationwide are problematic given different coding schemes. However, some calculations suggest that the NCGS alumnae pursue managerial and professional specialties at a greater rate than females nationwide (78% NCGS, compared to 62% nationwide), while the national female population pursues sales and administrative support at a greater rate (30% nationwide versus 11% NCGS).
• The majority of alumnae (86%) had volunteered in some sort of community organization since graduating from high school, compared to 39% of adults nationwide who participate in an ongoing community service activity.
• Eighty percent (80%) of respondents had held leadership positions since graduating from high school. Leadership positions in the workplace and in college were especially common.

 

Half of the alumnae surveyed remain connected in some way to their girls' school.

 

• About half of the respondents demonstrated a connectedness to their girls' school following graduation, by being in contact with faculty or staff (44%), attending reunions (54%), or supporting their school through financial giving (66%). The majority of respondents reported feeling at least moderately connected to their school and friends, with about 40% of those feeling either very or extremely connected.

 

Conclusion

In summary, the typical NCGS alumna thinks about her girls' school in positive terms, and states that the experience has been an advantage to her in making important life decisions. Since graduating from her girls' school, she has both volunteered in a community organization and held a leadership position. She is a college graduate (of a first or second tier institution), and her SAT scores were higher than women and men nationwide. Upon entering college, she felt more prepared academically than other women who had not attended a girls' school.

 

She has generally positive attitudes about single-sex schooling, believing that girls' schools provide young women with an experience superior to what they would encounter at a coed school. If she had it to do over again, she would attend a girls' school and would encourage her daughter to attend as well.

 

The 2000 alumnae survey mirrored some of the findings in a 1990 study by Yankelovich Clancy Shulman. Both groups of alumnae (Yankelovich: 1965-70 & 1975-80, and GRG: 1983, 1987, 1991, & 1995) reported similar benefits of their girls' school experience, including that it fostered self-confidence and provided superior academic preparation. In addition, both groups expressed similar attitudes toward coed versus single-sex schooling, with most believing they had a better educational experience at their girls' school than they would have had at a coed school.

 

Alumnae responses to the survey clearly send a strong message that there are positive experiences and outcomes associated with attending a girls' school. Moreover, where there was national data available as a comparison, it showed NCGS alumnae to be outperforming young adults -- both women and men -- nationwide in several areas. The survey results offer support for the effectiveness of NCGS member schools in meeting their goals on behalf of young women, while at the same time providing a springboard for further discussions about the girls' school experience.