ROCKPORT, Maine — The students in a boys-only third-grade class likely will mix back in with the girls and their other male peers next year.
The local curriculum committee plans to ask the school board to reintegrate the boys in Camden-Rockport Elementary School, according to Elaine Nutter, assistant superintendent for MSAD 28.
“It has been very positive for the boys in the classroom,” Nutter said. “As we look at the end of the year we will look at learning for all of these students. They have done very well and it has a very nice climate to it when you go into the classroom. We feel it’s been very effective.”
But, she said, “It was not intended to be a long-term program.”
By dissolving the boys-only classroom, next year’s fourth grade will be gender imbalanced.
The K-4 school tried the single-gender classroom when it saw that the third-grade class was going to have two-thirds boys and one-third girls. By separating out some boys, it evened out the other two classrooms and let teacher Steve Seidell try something new.
Parents were able to choose whether their sons would go into the single-gender classroom.
“I think the students have responded very positively to it and so did parents,” Nutter said. “It was well-researched. It was effective. But parents, teachers and the principal also didn’t want those students set apart on a long-term basis. They felt it was important for them to interact with their other classmates again. They want them to interact with all classmates — boys who are not in the program and girls.”
The school was curious about how this might work because this school year the kindergarten has more than 40 boys and only 15 girls, while the first grade is one-third boys and two-thirds girls.
Next year, the school will not try a single-gender classroom to amend the gap, Nutter said. Instead, it will create a combined first/second grade classroom to even out all the classes.
“The single-gender class for boys was partly addressing the need for male elementary students to have a male role model in the school. Like most elementary schools, most of the teachers are women at [Camden-Rockport Elementary School], so that need for gender role modeling is not the same for girls,” Nutter said. “The combination grade one and two class addresses a variety of needs of the school, including different class sizes from one grade to another.”
The school district’s curriculum committee’s recommendation will be brought to the school board at its May 16 meeting.
Third grade not necessary. Try it at middle school.
Got that right. I am surprised this was even tried tho. Usually it’s All Girls, Good…All Boys, Bad.
I think that waiting until they are in Middle School, is too late in this day and age.
Yeah you’re right. With 11 year olds having kids…
exaggerate much?
look at world records. Worlds record grandmother was 11.
You are now claiming that a world record is the norm? Laughable!
The worlds youngest grandmother is 23. Still way to young but very different then 11. You will notive that the grandmother ran away from home and eloped because her father wanted to marry her off to another man. This woman is a very poor lady in Romania.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3449681/Worlds-youngest-granny-is-just-23.html
The average ago puberty in girls has declined alot in the last few decades. It has accelerated even more in the last 15 years. Must be G Bush’s fault.
http://www.healthofchildren.com/P/Puberty.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puberty
http://pediatrics.about.com/cs/conditions/a/early_puberty.htm
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug/08/science/la-sci-puberty-20100809
Take the time to look around a bit yourself.
Puberty declined alot in the past couple decades because of all the estrogen mimicing chemicals in our food supply. But history has plenty of examples of girls as young as 11-12 giving birth, it is not a new thing.
In fact I would hazard a guess that it happens less now than it did in the past because marriage is no longer allowed for girls that young. In the past a girl was allowed to be married once she “became ” a women which was a euphemism for a girl entering puberty.
A few facts about teen sexual activity.
Although only 13% of teens have had sex by age 15, most initiate sex in their later teen years. By their 19th birthday, seven in 10 female and male teens have had intercourse
On average, young people have sex for the first time at about age 17, but they do not marry until their mid-20s. This means that young adults may be at increased risk for unintended pregnancy and STIs for nearly a decade or longer
Teens are waiting longer to have sex than they did in the recent past. In 2006–2008, some 11% of never-married females aged 15–19 and 14% of never-married males that age had had sex before age 15, compared with 19% and 21%, respectively, in 1995
http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/FB-ATSRH.html
So you agree with me provide evidence to support my statement Thanks.
Never once did I blame teenage pregnancy on GW Bush.
One other fact.
In 2005, New Mexico had the highest teenage pregnancy rate (93 per 1,000); rates in Nevada, Arizona, Texas and Mississippi followed. The lowest rates were in New Hampshire (33 per 1,000), Vermont, Maine, Minnesota and North Dakota.
You’ll notice Maine has one of the lowest teenage pregnancy rate in the country. Don’t you just love facts?
Irrelevant to my post.
I quote ” ….Must be G Bush’s fault.” Cheescake1955
Last year there was a pregnant 11 year old in Ellsworth…..I wish that poster was exaggerating!
Pregnant 11 year olds are extremely rare. Cheesecake was implying that pregnant 11 year olds are common which they are not.
Again, You add words I did not say. Have you no shame?
I quote “Yeah you’re right. With 11 year olds having kids… ” Cheesecake1955
That sentence implies that there are many 11 year olds having sex and getting pregnant. It is extremely rare for an 11 yo to be sexually active and is most likely caused by problems at home.
You also implied that this is an issue that is new (implying it is the fault of Liberals and their lifestyles) because your post was in reply to this quote from THEAT “I think that waiting until they are in Middle School, is too late in this day and age.” Whereas I wrote that this issue was neither new nor caused by “The Liberal agenda”.
middle school too late? well, maybe. But the issue here is that the “experiment” worked. We need to pay attention to that little bit of data.
I thought it was well documented that boys do better when in a co-ed environment, and girls do better in a single gender environment..
I believe that the BIG issue here is that it worked well. It is ludicrous to say that in the same breath as announcing it will be eliminated. Whaaaaat?
And now the district will “try” another experiment. Are these kids or lab rats? Sheesh! Where is the logical thinking here on the part of the curriculum committee? I think that girls and boys mix plenty at recess and in other areas. Classrooms are for LEARNING and not just for social mixing after all. Gender segregating for maximizing learning is a good thing if done well. Sounds as if it was done well here. So of course let’s try yet another plan.
I’m glad the little boy is learning cursive writing.
You oughta see him on a snowboard…the kid can shred.
The program is sucessful, lets get rid of it. Amazing.
It worked very well so time for it to go! This kind of thinking is part of the problem that we face in all aspects of life. I would certainly do it for better reasons than to “balance” by gender. There are many reasons out there for gender-specific classroom, not the least of which is a difference in learning styles and lack of gender-mixing distractions.