Hampton Inn & Suites Chicago-Lincolnshire, telephone 1-847-478-1400

Staybridge Suites Lincolnshire, reservations 1-877-238-8889

Hyatt Deerfield, 1-847-945-3400

Holiday Inn Lincolnshire-Deerfield, telephone 1-800-972-2494

How much does it cost? How do I register?

The registration fee is $330.00 per person.
For groups of 2, 3, or 4, registering together, the fee drops to $300.00 per person.
For groups of 5 or more, registering together, the registration fee is $280.00 per person.
For speakers, the registration fee is just $230.00 per speaker, regardless of the number of people in your group.

We will refund 90% of the registration fee if your refund request is received before September 1; between September 1 and October 1, just 50%; after October 1, no refunds will be provided.

Keynote speakers (Giedd, Mortenson, Shalit)

• "Sex differences in brain development"
  Jay Giedd MD, Director, Chief, Unit on Brain Imaging, National Institute of Mental Health
  Bethesda, Maryland
  Short description of this session
  
  
• "What's Wrong with the Guys? -- 2007 Update"
  Tom Mortenson
  Pell Institute
  Short description of this session


• "Girls Gone Mild: modest alternatives to the culture of Britney, Lindsay and Paris"
  Wendy Shalit
  Toronto, Ontario
  Short description of this session

  General session / Opening session

• "FAQs About Single-Sex Education"
  Leonard Sax, MD, PhD
  NASSPE
  Short description of this session

Saturday evening session (optional, no charge)

• "Boys Adrift:
  The five factors driving the growing epidemic of unmotivated boys"
  Leonard Sax, MD, PhD
  NASSPE
  Short description of this session
  
  

Breakout sessions

• Launching a single-gender program:
  keys to success
  David Chadwell, Director of Single Gender Initiatives for the State of South Carolina
  Columbia, South Carolina
  Short description of this session
  
  
• Engaging girls in science:
  experience in a public elementary school
  Michelle Gay, Alabama Math Science and Technology Initiative
  Karen Frederick, Foley Intermediate School
  Foley, Alabama
  Short description of this session
  
  
• Middle School Mathematics and the Single-Gender Classroom
  Dr. Elaine Wiegert and Ms. Sandy Lorick
  Clemson University and Langston Charter Middle School
  Short description of this session
  
  
• Single Sex Classrooms in Special Education
  Professor Jennifer Madigan
  San Jose State University
  Short description of this session
  
  
• Engaging the boys in a single-gender second-grade classroom
  Babette Hamilton-Jennings and Ruth Owens
  Beech Hill Elementary School
  Summerville, South Carolina
  Short description of this session
  
  
• The Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women's Leadership School: the first three years
  Vivian Taylor-Samudio, Principal
  Dallas, Texas
  Short description of this session
  
  
• Single-sex education in a public elementary school:
  the first three years
  Lee Mansell, Principal
  Foley Intermediate School
  Foley, Alabama
  Short description of this session
  
  
• A Girl-Centered Science Curriculum
  Marriah Schwallier
  Columbia, South Carolina
  Short description of this session
  
  
• Teaching the Male Brain
  Dr. Abigail Norfleet James
  Orange, Virginia
  Short description of this session
  
  
• Using the single-sex format to remediate under-representation
  Professor Margaret Ferrara
  University of Nevada Reno
  Reno, Nevada
  
Short description of this session


• Helping Middle School Girls FOCUS:
  using the single-gender format to empower adolescent girls
  Nancy Ankney
  Columbia, South Carolina
  Short description of this session
  
  
• Getting boys excited about school
  three years' experience in a public elementary school
  Bill Bender and Mindy Lawson
  Foley Intermediate School
  Foley, Alabama
  Short description of this session
  
  
• Launching a girls' public elementary school: the first four years
  Suzanne Muggy, Toledo Public Schools
  Short description of this session
  
  
• Single-sex classrooms in coed public schools: the Australian experience.
  Professor Robin Wills, University of Tasmania
  Hobart, Australia
  Short description of this session
  
  
• Single-sex education in a public elementary school, part I: best practices
  Dr. Elizabeth Heins, Dr. Kathy Piechura, and Dr. Mercedes Tichenor
  Stetson University
  Short description of this session
  
  
• Single-sex education in a public elementary school, Part II: teacher observations
  Woodward Avenue Elementary, Volusia County Public Schools, Florida
  Short description of this session
  
  
• Educational Leadership for Boys
  Joseph Driessen
  Auckland, New Zealand
  Short description of this session
  
  
• Teaching the Female Brain
  Dr. Abigail Norfleet James
  Orange, Virginia
  Short description of this session
  
  
• Gender differences in best practices for sex education
  Professor Steven Rhoads
  University of Virginia Charlottesville
  Short description of this session
  
  
• Real Men Read: engaging middle school boys in reading and language arts
  Caitlin Zimmerman
  Columbia, South Carolina
  Short description of this session
  
  
• Inspiring Young African-American Men to Learn
  Dr. John Eaves
  Atlanta, Georgia
  Short description of this session
  
  
• But It's So OLD!!! -- strategies to make the ancient seem new for girls
  Frances McCartha
  Columbia, South Carolina
  Short description of this session
  
  
• Boys on Fire:
  inspiring elementary-school boys to learn
  Jill Renn and Betsy Stahler, Hardey Prep
  Chicago, Illinois
  Short description of this session
  
  

  ---

  Session Descriptions

  Keynotes

  • "Sex differences in brain development"
  Dr. Jay Giedd
  NIH, Bethesda, Maryland
  Dr. Giedd is chief of brain imaging and director of the ongoing brain development study at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland. He will speak about "Sex differences in the development of the human brain." Dr. Giedd and his colleagues have discovered extraordinary differences in the trajectories of brain development in girls compared with boys. The different regions of the brain appear to develop in a different sequence in girls compared with boys.
  
  
  • "What's Wrong with the Guys? -- 2007 update"
  Tom Mortenson holds the post of Senior Scholar at the Pell Institute of the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education. He has gained a national reputation for being among the most accurate and unbiased scholars documenting the influence of gender, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status at all levels of education, K-12 as well as postsecondary. his 1995 article "What's Wrong with the Guys?" was among the first to call attention to the growing disengagement of American boys and young men from education. He has also led the way in documenting how the gender gap in motivation manifests itself differently as a function of race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status.
  
  
  • "Girls Gone Mild: modest alternatives to the culture of Britney, Lindsay and Paris"
    
  Wendy Shalit
  Toronto, Ontario
  Our third keynote speaker will be the influential journalist Wendy Shalit, author of A Return to Modesty and Girls Gone Mild. Ms. Shalit has attracted international attention for her incisive observations regarding how modern American culture damages and distorts the self-image of young women. The relentless focus on girls’ appearance – and the pressure to appear and to be sexually available – has resulted in an explosion in the proportion of young women who are unhappy and uncertain about their place in the world. Fortunately, it's the young women themselves who are starting to rebel against these new expectations. Wendy will share some of their stories.

  ---

  General Session

  • "FAQs About Single-Sex Education"
    Leonard Sax MD PhD
    NASSPE
    In this opening session, Dr. Sax will address some Frequently-Asked Questions (FAQs) about single-sex education, such as the following:
  1. Is single-sex education the best choice for EVERY child?
  2. What child benefits most from single-sex education? What child may NOT benefit?
  3. Is single-sex education more advantageous for girls, or for boys?
  4. At what age is single-sex education most beneficial?
  5. In American public schools: are parents required to give consent in order for their child to be enrolled in a single-sex classroom?
  6. What does the research really say about single-sex education?
  7. "The real world is coed. Adults live in a coed world. School should prepare kids for the real world. Therefore school should be coed." What's the answer to that?

  ---

  • Implementing a single-gender program at your school
    David Chadwell, Director of Single Gender Initiatives for the State of South Carolina
    Columbia, South Carolina
    David Chadwell was the inaugural Lead Teacher for Boys at the very successful TWO Academies at Dent Middle School in Columbia, South Carolina. Mr. Chadwell will share his experience -- both during his three years at the TWO Academies and at similar programs elsewhere in the United States -- with particular attention to the key ingredients for success in launching a single-gender program. Questions he will address include:
    Should I implement a single-gender program at my school?
    If so, how should it be structured?
    How should I promote and/or publicize the program?
    What kind of support do teachers need?
    Mr. Chadwell will provide answers to these questions, and others, along with a detailed outline and templates.
    
    
  • Engaging girls in science:
    experience in a public elementary school
    Michelle Gay, Alabama Math Science and Technology Initiative
    Karen Frederick, Foley Intermediate School
    Foley, Alabama
    For the past three years, Michelle Gay and Karen Frederick have taught all-girls classes at Foley Intermediate School (4th- and 5th-grade students). This session will be a hands-on session in which participants will learn strategies which really worked to engage these girls in science. Frederick and Gay will share ways to conduct investigations, integrate literature and math, create science journals, and utilize technology. This session is geared primarily toward classroom teachers in elementary schools.
    
    
  • Middle School Mathematics and the Single-Gender Classroom
    Dr. Elaine Wiegert and Ms. Sandy Lorick Clemson University and Langston Charter Middle School
    Greenville and Clemson, South Carolina
    Ms. Sandy Lorick and Dr. Elaine Wiegert will present findings from their work with middle school students at a public charter middle school in Greenville, South Carolina. Dr. Wiegert is a professor in the Department of Education at Clemson University. Ms. Lorick is teaching math to both girls' classes and boys' classes at the Langston Charter Middle School.
    
    
  • Single Sex Classrooms in Special Education
    Dr. Jennifer Madigan, San Jose State University
    San Jose, California
    Research in special education rarely focuses on gender issues. The lack of research and programs focusing on the needs of girls, particularly Latinas, in special education places them at risk for failure and dropping out of school.
    In a mixed method investigation, Professor Madigan examined classroom behaviors and school perceptions of Latina students attending single-gender and coeducational secondary-level special education placements for students with mild to moderate learning disabilities. Classrooms observations and interviews were conducted with special education students, classroom teachers, and program administrators in both single-gender and coeducational special education classrooms on an urban school site serving a large special education population in northern California. The results of this study provide compelling evidence that Latina students in the single-gender special education environment experienced higher school attendance rates, improved academic performance, a greater degree of comfort and support from teachers and peers in class, and less harassment from male peers at school than their counterparts in the coed setting.
    
    
  • Snips and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails: engaging the 2nd-grade boys at Beech Elementary
    Babette Hamilton-Jennings, principal
    Ruth Owens, 2nd-grade teacher
    Beech Hill Elementary School
    Summerville, South Carolina
    We will share practical strategies we used to make a classroom of 2nd-grade boys "come alive." The boys read and wrote stories and poems, participated in a play, dug in the dirt, and were taught and expected to act as gentlemen every day. We will walk you through the steps we used to create an environment that met the needs of the boys as learners, allowed them the freedom to be themselves, and provided them with the encouragement to succeed -- while still providing standards-based, rigorous and relevant instruction. You will leave this session with strategies, activities, and tips that you can use as soon as you return to school.
    
    
  • An all-girls public school in Dallas: the first three years
    The Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women's Leadership School opened in August 2004 as the first all-girls' school in the state of Texas, with 124 students (7th & 8th graders), and twelve teachers. We now have 413 students and 34 teachers. We currently serve students in grades 6-11. Our focus is on mathematics, science, and technology with an emphasis on the development of leadership skills and student wellness. With regard to our test scores: Our school received a TEA rating of "Recognized" for the 2004 school year; for 2005 we earned a TEA rating of "Recognized" and for 2006 school year our school received a TEA rating of "Exemplary".
    Vivian Taylor has been the principal at Irma Lerma Rangel since the school's founding. She is now leading the school into its fourth year. Ms. Taylor will share her experiences and offer advice for other administrators who are currently leading, or hope to lead, all-girls public schools.
    
    
  • Single-sex education in a public elementary school:
    the first three years
    Lee Mansell, Principal
    Foley Intermediate School
    Foley, Alabama
    A single-gender pilot program in Baldwin County, Alabama, began in the fall of 2004, initiated by Foley Intermediate School. The program, now in its fourth year, has been generally successful in raising test scores and improving attendance for both girls and boys, particularly for those students from low-income African-American households. The principal, Lee Mansell, will provide an overview of the school's experience throughout its first three years, and will answer questions during this informal session.
    
    
  • Teaching the Male Brain
    Dr. Abigail Norfleet James, Rockhouse Associates
    Orange, Virginia
    As more boys are being identified as having learning problems, more information is being uncovered which supports the notion that boys learn well when classroom activities are designed to use their academic strengths. Teach to boys' strengths, rather than focussing on their weaknesses. This workshop will present findings from recent research and connect that information to teaching strategies which maximize boys' learning. Participants will acquire specific strategies to implement in their classrooms to increase student engagement through a variety of active learning approaches. Participants will also receive handouts of the PowerPoint slides together with directions for the approaches described in the presentation.
    
    
  • A Girl-Centered Science Curriculum
    Marriah Schwallier
    Columbia, South Carolina
    This session will provide an overview of effective strategies for a girl-centered science classroom. We will consider not only lessons and activities, but also classroom environment and organization. This session is intended primarily for science teachers, particularly middle school grades.
    
    
  • Four years' experience at a public girls' elementary school
    Suzanne Muggy
    Toledo Public Schools, Ohio
    The Ella P. Stewart Academy for Girls began as the first all-female, urban, public elementary school in the nation in August of 2003.
    Administrator Suzanne Muggy will present:
    1) evidence of significant student achievement over the four-year period;
    2) suggestions for professional staff development to create an environment that is engaging for all stakeholders;
    3) the importance of increasing security at a single gender site and strategies on how to build upon what is currently in place;
    4) the importance of specific policies and procedures to develop a strong single gender educational foundation; and
    5) the importance of building a community, civic and religious base of support and partnership.
    In addition, Ms. Muggy will provide anecdotal evidence of the exciting effects of an all-female early education on students, parents, staff and the community.
    
    
  • Single-sex classrooms in coed public schools: the Australian experience.
    Dr. Robin Wills
    University of Tasmania
    Hobart, Tasmania (Australia)
    This presentation derives from four years of ethnographic study conducted in single-gendered classes in four Tasmanian public coeducational primary schools in socio-economically disadvantaged areas. In our study, we investigated social and academic outcomes from single-sex classrooms through interviews, observations, and surveys. School staff identified increased confidence and higher self-esteem among girls, whereas boys developed increased motivation and more commitment to school work. Teachers and parents noted that boys' accountability and self-discipline improved. Each of the schools specifically adopted proactive strategies to address the educational disengagement of boys whose social behaviour affected their own education and that of many others in the schools -- an example of the situation currently described in Australian and international studies as an educational crisis. The unquestioned status of the coeducational primary school classroom as an appropriate norm is challenged and a theorised alternative is explained.
    
    
  • But It's So OLD!!! -- strategies to make the ancient seem new, for middle school girls
    Frances McCartha, TWO Academies at Dent Middle School
    Columbia, South Carolina
    Every middle school social studies teacher has had the experience of girls who say "History is dumb. It's so OLD." Many of Ms. McCartha's girls start the year saying how much they HATE history. By the end of the year, they LOVE history. How does Ms. McCartha use the single-sex format to inspire her girls? Handouts will include PowerPoint slides with notes highlighting some of Ms. McCartha's favorite strategies.
    
    
  • Inspiring Young African-American Men to Learn
    Dr. John Eaves
    Morehouse College
    Atlanta, Georgia
    The dismal status of African-American males in education is well documented. African-American males have higher high school drop out rates than African American females and have poorer college entrance rates and graduation rates than any other group of Americans classified by race or gender. Yet, Morehouse College, as the only predominately Black, all-male college in the United States, has achieved a remarkable record of attracting and producing African-American male students, who, as graduates, have provided outstanding leadership in American society.
    This presentation reviews how the unique institutional, social, and environmental factors at Morehouse College influence the development of students into aspiring leaders. Prominent themes such as students' personal backgrounds, school history, traditions and rituals; school programs and services, faculty-student relationships and expectations, peer relationships and brotherhood, and social relations will be presented and their effects on African-American student development.
    High school teachers, administrators, and counselors who interact with African-American males will learn about best practices to encourage young African-American men to aspire to academic success.
    
    
  • Real Men Read: engaging middle school boys in reading and language arts
    Caitlin Zimmerman
    Columbia, South Carolina
    Participants will explore hands-on reading strategies designed to engage male readers. Along with these strategies, participants will also discuss several novels which have been particularly effective in engaging middle-school boys. The daily routines of the all-boys Language Arts classroom will be presented. Techniques and strategies which keep middle-school boys engaged in writing and note-taking will be explored. Participants will receive handouts including the PowerPoint slides, along with specific descriptions of various strategies.
    
    
  • Sex Education: the relevance of gender differences
    Professor Steven Rhoads
    University of Virginia
    Charlottesville, Virginia
    The majority of parents and educators believe that middle and high school teens are more likely to have brighter futures if they abstain from sexual intercourse. But the best research shows that almost all school-based sex education programs have little or no effect on teen sexual behavior.
    
    Single sex classrooms have a chance to improve on results to date if their programs for boys and girls are informed by what we know about sex differences in sexuality. As compared to underage boys, sex for underage girls is more likely to lead to sexually transmitted diseases, infertility, depression, sexual regret, and anger toward the opposite sex. It also provides for girls less physical pleasure and, of course, more unwanted pregnancies. In mixed sex classrooms all this cannot be said without suggesting that sex for boys may be OK.
    
    The presentation will go over the evidence for sex differences in sexuality and suggest different ways of approaching boys and girls in single sex classrooms.
    
    
  • Boys On Fire: inspiring elementary-school boys to learn
    Jill Renn and Betsy Stahler
    Chicago, Illinois
    
    
  • Single-sex education in a public elementary school, part I: best practices
    Elizabeth Heins, Doug MacIsaac, Kathy Piechura, and Mercedes Tichenor
    Stetson University
    Presenters will discuss information about professional development workshops held for teachers in single-gender classrooms and how university faculty and teacher candidates work with these classes. Results of interviews with teachers and students, as well as results from standardized test data collected after the first year of implementation will be shared. Suggestions for implementing similar programs will also be presented.
    
    
  • Single-sex education in a public elementary school, Part II: teacher observations
    Educators from Woodward Avenue Elementary, Volusia County Public Schools, Florida
    Single-sex education in a public elementary school, part II: teacher observations This presentation will provide an overview of and rationale for implementing single-gender classrooms at the elementary school level. Teachers who have implemented single-gender classes will provide insight on what they have learned and how this information can be utilized for working with boys and girls, particularly in the context of the single-gender classroom.
    
    
  • Using the single-sex format to remediate under-representation
    Professor Margaret Ferrara
    University of Nevada Reno
    Reno, Nevada
    The under-representation of boys among honors students and in leadership roles has directed researchers' attention to the ways in which the educational system interacts with gender. This study examines the proportion of boys in student leadership roles at the middle school level, and delves into the larger social significance of the under-representation of boys in these roles.
    Early adolescence is generally considered a critical age for the development of social and self-efficacy skills. Our research suggests a need for further exploration of the effects of the disenfranchisement of males, especially poor and minority boys, from roles that potentially lead to success in the academic realm and broader democratic life.
    Handouts will be provided.
    
    
  • Helping Middle School Girls FOCUS:
    using the single-gender format to empower adolescent girls
    Nancy Ankney
    Columbia, South Carolina
    FOCUS is a character-developing class for adolescent girls. During the year, girls learn how to examine their strengths and weaknesses through hands-on activities. "Third Girl Out," "Rumors," "Media Images," and "Qualities of a Woman" are a few of the activities employed to help girls strengthen their own self-image and self-confidence. The single-gender format creates a unique and empowering setting for this program.
    Handouts will include lesson plans for these programs, along with a year-long curriculum.
    
    
  • Getting boys excited about school:
    three years' experience in a public elementary school
    Bill Bender and Mindy Lawson
    Foley Intermediate School
    Foley, Alabama
    Bill Bender and Mindy Lawson, both teachers at Foley Intermediate School (4th and 5th grades), will discuss what they have learned about boys while teaching all-boys classes. Mr. Bender's 4th-grade all-boy class became Ms. Lawson's 5th-grade class. That cohort of boys -- boys who had single-sex classes in both 4th grade and 5th grade -- scored higher on the April 2007 Alabama Reading and Math Test (ARMT) reading subtest than any other group in the school. On a scale of 1 to 4, 90% of those boys scored a "4" on the reading test. Ms. Lawson and Mr. Bender will share the strategies which they found most effective in engaging every boy in the classroom.
    
    
  • Leonard Sax, MD, PhD
    NASSPE
    Poolesville, Maryland
    Please click here for a short description of Dr. Sax's presentation Saturday night, "Boys Adrift.".
    
    
  • Educational Leadership for Boys
    Joseph Driessen
    Auckland, New Zealand
    This workshop will be useful particularly to teachers and administrators who are planning all-boys classes and/or schools, or who already lead all-boys classes and/or schools. Many schools report disillusionment with single-sex boys' classes because they lack the training to manage the difficult boys. Some schools put all the difficult boys in one classroom. The boys' classroom then becomes an arena in which struggles for dominance take center stage. All too often, the difficult boys become dysfunctional leaders of the whole class, and turn all the boys against the teachers. This scenario is unfortunately quite common. It can be avoided only by teachers who are either intuitively gifted leaders of boys, or who become so by understanding the dynamics of the four groups of boys described in this session. School administrators also have a huge role to play to support those classes and teachers.
    
    A more detailed (three page) description of this session may be found here.
    
    
  • Teaching the Female Brain
    Dr. Abigail Norfleet James, Rockhouse Associates
    Orange, Virginia
    The idea that math is difficult for girls - and the corresponding idea that most girls are not 'naturally' interested in mathematics - is pervasive. According to widely-held beliefs, girls should not be expected to do well in math or science because their academic strength lies in words. This workshop will present research from recent findings and connect that information to teaching strategies which maximize girls' learning. Participants will gain a clear understanding of best classroom practices for girls in math and science. Participants will also receive handouts of the PowerPoint slides together with directions for the approaches described in the presentation. In addition, participants will observe some of the strategies in the workshop so that they will have a clear idea of how to implement the approaches in their own classrooms.
    
    

    ---

    Conference agenda

    The conference begins informally Friday evening at 7 PM with a welcoming reception at the Marriott. At 7:30 PM on Friday evening, Dr. Sax will give his presentation "Sex, Drugs, and Fast Cars: what YOU need to know to keep your son or daughter safe." This presentation is not about single-sex education, but is instead a review of gender differences in the propensity to delinquent behaviors. This presentation is intended for parents of 11- to 17-year-olds and is free to all conference registrants. We will have space for only 200 attendees, and seats will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
    
    The conference officially begins Saturday morning registration and a continental breakfast. We will open at 9 AM Saturday morning with a general session led by Dr. Sax entitled "FAQs About Single-Sex Education." We then will break for the first round of breakout sessions, followed by lunch at 12 noon. At 1 PM on Saturday, we will hear Dr. Giedd's keynote, "Sex differences in brain development." Dr. Giedd's keynote will be followed by another round of breakout sessions, and a "bookstore" of books of relevance to single-sex education.
    
    Saturday evening, Dr. Sax will speak about "Boys Adrift: the five factors driving the growing epidemic of unmotivated boys." For this evening event, we will again have space for only about 200 attendees, and seats will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
    
    We begin Sunday morning with a continental breakfast, followed by Tom Mortenson's keynote entitled "What's Wrong with the Guys? - 2007 Update." Then we will have our third breakout session, followed by another hot buffet lunch at 12 noon. Sunday afternoon, Wendy Shalit will deliver the final keynote address, followed by our final breakout session. The conference concludes with a special "bookstore" and author signing event, where our authors - including Abigail Norfleet James, Professor Steven Rhoads, Dr. Leonard Sax, and Wendy Shalit - will be available to sign copies of their books.
    
    The conference will end at 4 PM Sunday afternoon.

     

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