Recent findings of the Black and Latino Male Schools Intervention Study (BLMSIS), funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (2006-2009) and directed by the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education, show that academic engagement, school climate, and out-of-school activities are key contributors to the academic performance of boys of color in single-sex schools. Among these factors, academic engagement was the single most important contributor to academic performance.
"Our baseline findings suggest that the environments created by the single-sex high schools participating in the study are mirroring the interaction of social and academic supports that contribute to student achievement," said Margary Martin, Director of Research and Evaluation at Metro Center.
In fact, a very strong relationship between the academic engagement dimensions emerged. Key findings demonstrate that cognitive and relational engagement are significant predictors of behavioral engagement. In other words, the more students feel intellectually engaged with what they are learning and the better the quality of relationships students have with peers and administrators at single-sex schools, the more likely they are to exhibit academically supportive behavior, which in turn bolsters their academic performance.
"These findings begin to suggest that the instructional components of these single-sex school are mediated by the wellness of the school climate and positive social interaction," said Pedro Noguera, Executive Director of Metro Center. "The degree to which Black and Latino students know ‘how to do school' is predicted by their sense of belonging in the school setting, their intellectual interest, and feeling they have supportive adult relationships in school."
In recent years there has been growing concern over the so-called "achievement gap" - the pervasive disparities in academic achievement between Black and Latino students and their White counterparts. Since 2002, there has been a rapid proliferation in the number of public schools offering single-sex education for Black and Latino males. It is critical that we understand the factors contributing to positive academic achievement in these single-sex schools.
Key findings from the BLMSIS brief:
- Academic engagement predicted the largest amount of academic performance (12.3%) across schools - as measured by GPA.
- Within academic engagement, behavioral engagement or the degree to which students know how to do school was the strongest predictor of achievement.
- School climate and relational and cognitive engagement were unique predictors of behavioral engagement, which includes the degree to which students perceive themselves as supported by adults in their school.