All-Girls' Education

We know the results of a Girls Preparatory School education. We hear it in the words of graduates who come back to visit GPS during their college years:  

• “I’m so well prepared.”
• “I’m the only person in class who asks questions or talks to my professor outside of class; I feel comfortable sharing my opinion.”
• “I ran for a student government position in my freshman year; GPS prepared me to be involved.”
• “Students in my dorm ask me to read their papers and check their math.”
• “Compared to my roommate, I have the study skills needed to be successful.”  

New research results now confirm what we have always known -- girls at single-sex secondary independent schools have a definite edge over their peers at coed independent schools.

In 2009, UCLA’s Higher Education Research Institute released the results of a well-documented study that offers solid evidence of the effectiveness of girls’ schools. Peer-reviewed research, documented by UCLA’s Dr. Linda J. Sax and colleagues last year, compares the self-confidence, political engagement, academic achievement, and aspirations of a large and representative blind sample.

Results from the survey offer solid evidence that graduates of girls’ schools show the following: 

• a higher level of academic abilities
• higher SAT scores
• higher confidence in their math skills
• increased political awareness and activism
• greater interest in graduate school study

Girls’ school graduates rate themselves more successful and engaged in precisely those areas in which male students have historically passed them – mathematics, computers, engineering, and politics; and girls’ school graduates are more likely to consider a degree in engineering

The new data reveal that girls’ school alumnae assess themselves more strongly across the academic disciplines and show increased intellectual confidence. The results also show that they are measurably stronger at communication and public speaking skills and have a stronger predisposition to extracurricular engagement. At our nation’s colleges and universities, women graduates of single sex schools spend more time studying or doing homework, talking with teachers outside of class, tutoring peers, and studying with others; 60 percent of girls’ school graduates spend 11-plus hours a week on studies, compared to 42 percent from coed schools.

The UCLA study, commissioned by the National Conference of Girls’ Schools, offers the first-ever peer-reviewed research on the subject and gives educators more facts to support their theories. The study separated single sex schooling from other influences, including socio-economic background, race/ethnicity, parental education and the characteristics of the high schools attended. “Single-gender education represents a valuable opportunity,” says Meg Moulton, Executive Director of NCGS. “Our nation’s girls are a national resource, and they deserve the best we can offer them.”

The best that we do offer, in all phases of life at GPS, enables our students to take full advantage of the opportunities afforded by a school for girls.