Effects of Same Sex Class Organization on Junior High School Students’ Academic Achievement, Self-Discipline, Self-Concept, Sex Role Identification, and Attitude Toward School

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to determine the effect of same-sex class organization on junior high school (seventh and eighth grade) students’ academic achievement, self-discipline, self-concept, sex role identification, and attitude toward school. A pretest and posttest experimental design with randomly assigned groups (with some adjustments in assignment) was employed. Each experimental group was in English, social studies, mathematics, science, and physical education classes for a full school year. The instructional content and method were essentially the same for both the control and experimental groups. Five null hypotheses, one for each dependent variable, were tested by application of analysis of covariance using a 2X2X2 factorial design. While the data did not warrant the rejection of any of the null hypotheses, significant differences were found for factors not effected by the experimental treatment. Differences in academic achievement and general maturity were consistent with the research about early adolescence in that the differences favored the girls.