ACHIEVEMENT IN NEW ZEALAND BOYS’ SCHOOLS 2013-2016This report compares the academic performance all male students at single-sex boys’ schools and coeducational schools in New Zealand for the years 2013 to 2016. Qualifications, endorsements, University Entrance and New Zealand Scholarship were all examined as part of the analysis.
From Dr. Michael Johnston, "The overall picture that emerges is that young men at single-sex schools gain NCEA qualifications, endorsements, University Entrance and New Zealand Scholarship passes in greater proportions than their counterparts at coeducational schools. Even so, the single-sex advantage is quite striking across nearly the full range of data considered and certain potential confounds, such as socioeconomic variables and choice of assessment type are shown not to be plausible explanations for the demonstrated single-sex advantage. In the opinion of the author, the analyses presented here suggest that, notwithstanding other potential explanations, it is likely that attending single sex schools does work to the academic advantage of at least some young men. While, as noted above, the data do not prove this to be the case, they do show a tendency for the single-sex schooling advantage to be greatest for students from demographics with below average performance in a national context – for Māori and for students at low decile schools in particular. At a minimum, the analyses presented here, which agree in substance with the early NZCER report, suggest that investigation ought to be undertaken by the Ministry of Education as well as by independent researchers, to gain further insight into the single-sex advantage which is, as a phenomenon, unequivocal. " |