Tariq Nelson

Here’s an experiment to keep an eye on: 

New Haven school officials are seeking $250,000 in state funding for a plan to create a groundbreaking same-sex public school academy aimed at black youth who have trouble in traditional classrooms.

A trial of same-sex classes for fourth- and fifth-graders at New Haven’s Beecher School has been under way since September, and Principal Kathy M. Russell said the experiment is looking like a success.

“In my fourth grade there has been a significant reduction in disciplinary referrals,” said Russell. The experiment has been so successful that older students are now asking for same-sex classes.

“My sixth-grade girls want to be separated now,” Russell said.

It appears from the Beecher School project and similar experiments around the nation that single-sex classrooms allow boys and girls to function better with fewer distractions, better discipline and significant academic improvements, Russell said.

Beecher School’s student population is almost 100 percent minority, officials say.

New Haven School Superintendent Reginald Mayo said the proposal for an all-male academy within one of the city’s public schools is particularly focused on finding solutions to the educational problems of black males and other minority youths.

“We’ve really got to do some out-of-the-box kind of thinking,” said Mayo. “We’re certainly losing too many of our African-American and Hispanic boys to prison and the streets.

“We’re struggling to find ways of getting young people to focus on academics more,” he added. “I’m willing to try anything at this point in time.”

Mayo said the academy would focus on seventh grade and then follow it up the next year with the same group of students continuing on in eighth grade. He also would like to see Beecher expand its programs.

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Single-sex education is a rapidly growing trend throughout the nation. According to the National Association for Single Sex Public Education, 223 public school district offer some form of same-sex learning, up from four in 1998.The Lewis Fox Middle School created the Mary McCleod Bethune Institute for Girls, and the Benjamin Mays Institute for Boys. Each single-sex institute enrolls about 75 students and use a curriculum centered on black history and themes.

“A boy, in particular a black boy, doesn’t know how to be a black man, if he doesn’t see one,” Sadiq Ali, a Mays Institute teacher and founder, told the National Association for Single Sex Public Education. “The first thing is to expose them to positive men, and what a positive man should be.”

In writing, 60 percent of Mays’ students met or surpassed the state goal in reading tests, versus 32 percent citywide. In math, 47 percent of Mays’ students surpassed the goal, compared with 27 percent citywide.

“A lot of our boys come in (with) extremely low (test scores), as if they’ve never gone to school before. We bring them up. They progress academically. That’s what you want to see. Also, their self-esteem has picked up, and they carry themselves in a dignified manner. They’re staying out of trouble,” Ali said.

According to New Haven school officials, the $250,000 in funding would be used for a variety of additional costs, including:

Training for teachers in dealing with the learning differences between girls and boys. Some additional teaching materials would also be needed, such as books “tailored to teaching young African-American males to read.”

Hiring additional black and other minority male teachers and paraprofessionals to reduce class sizes and to provide role models for male students.

Collection of data on student performance and a year-end review of the pilot project to determine how effective the new classes have been.

New Haven school officials said there is a trend in urban school districts across the nation toward creation of predominantly black, all-male public school academies. About a dozen such academies are now operating, according to Catherine Sullivan-DeCarlo, spokeswoman for the New Haven school system.

The all-male academies targeted toward black youths attempt to provide a more structured and supportive classroom environment and make an effort to hire more black male teachers to act as role models.

Such all-male academies for black youth are part of a larger pattern of public schools around the nation experimenting with same-sex classes and schools.

In October, the federal government issued new regulations giving public school districts greater authority to increase the number of same-sex classes and schools. The new regulations require that all such classes be voluntary and that co-educational classes of equal quality must be made available to students on request.

The change in federal policy marks a dramatic shift from the direction set more than 30 years ago when Congress passed a law prohibiting sex discrimination in schools.

Murphy said New Haven’s proposed experiment for black male students would run into “some conflict with Connecticut state law,” but he added such anti-discrimination laws could be modified.

Mayo said he is well aware that the proposed pilot program could be controversial and is ready to deal with criticism in order to find out if such a program could work.

The overall dropout rate for students in New Haven’s predominantly minority high school system is about 17 percent, Mayo said.

The president of the Connecticut chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, Scott X. Esdaile of New Haven, said he is withholding judgment on the proposed public school academy for black males until he learns more.

“I’d like to take a look at it first,” Esdaile said. “I will seek an opportunity to sit down with Dr. Mayo to discuss it.”