Effects of Single-Sex and Coeducational Schooling on the Gender Gap in Mathematics Achievement in Public Schools in Beirut - Lebanon

In education, there has been several debates regarding student achievement and success; among these is the subject of gender gap in math. Even though schools have tried to minimize the gap throughout the years, males still outperformed females in math, particularly at the upper level. The purpose of this study was to compare the students? mathematics achievement in coeducational and single-gender schools. Within this framework, the researcher examined class type and gender using the 9th and 12th grades of Lebanese official exams scores of students in the area of mathematics. It has been suggested in the literature that differences in the size of the mathematics gap across countries may be explained by differences in the prevalence of single-sex schooling. The Lebanese education system is interesting both for the fact that a sizeable proportion of children attends single-sex schools, and because these single-sex schools are part of the general and public educational system, rather than serving a particular socio-economic group. We exploit this fact to test whether the gender composition of schools affects the mathematics achievement between genders. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected to validate the results found. The sample consisted of nine public school principals and seventeen teachers. Three instruments were used: official exam scores of grade 9 and grade 12 students collected from schools, Brain dominance test, and workshop brochures which are informative paper documents presented by the ministry of education. Findings showed significant difference in math achievement for boys and girls in single-sex schools and co-educational schools in favor of co-educational setting for boys and in favor of single-sex setting for girls, significant difference between males and females with the left hemisphere of the brain in favor of males and a significant difference between males and females concerning the right hemisphere in favor of female, and teachers have not been exposed to professional development opportunities regarding implementing instructional strategies for boys and girls in different educational settings. Recommendations for further studies were suggested as to investigate students? perceptions towards mathematics in both types of schooling.