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One of the fastest-growing trends in the educational landscape of 21st-century America is single-sex education. Fueled by research studying the different learning styles between the two genders, more public schools are contemplating single-sex student populations. As the public grows more concerned about achievement gaps between girls and boys, parents are increasingly seeing single-sex public schools as an attractive alternative to conventional coeducational environments.

The Growing Support for Single-Sex Education

Fueled by a bevy of research, proponents of single-sex education tout several benefits that are not associated with coeducational campuses.

A Way to Address Gender Gaps
In the 1990s, the American Association of University Women issued a report called "Shortchanging Girls, Shortchanging America," which raised public awareness about how girls' self-esteem and proclivity for mathematical and scientific pursuits plummet as they progress through the public school system.

In the 2000s, the public's focus began to shift towards how our public school system shortchanges boys, as boys increasingly lagged behind girls in rates of high school graduation and college matriculation. While boys still tend to outscore girls in math and science achievement tests, girls tend to outpace boys in reading and writing tests.

Many advocates for single-sex schooling believe that gender-segregated classrooms can help to undo these seemingly entrenched gender disparities. Tom Carroll, chairman and founder of the Brighter Choice Charter School for Boys and the Brighter Choice Charter School for Girls in Albany, says that his schools' recently released test scores showed that his students performed better on

Just as the internet has changed the way Americans shop, date, and stay updated with the news, it is also changing the landscape of American education. Across the country, elementary, middle, and high school students are opting out of traditional public schools in favor of attending virtual charter schools.

Virtual charter schools provide students with online courses of study taught by licensed teachers. According to the , 200 virtual charter schools were in operation nationwide during the 2008-09 school year. Experts expect this number to grow, as the K-12 online learning industry is expanding at an estimated annual pace of 30%.

As the number of students who choose to enroll in virtual charter schools swells, critics of this new educational trend have begun voicing their concerns. Opponents believe that virtual charter schools could become a disservice to all students, and worse, a dangerous final nail in the coffin of an already weakened public education system. Meanwhile, advocates for the online educational model maintain that the individualized and customized learning that virtual charter schools enable is exactly what many modern-day students need.

This video answers common questions about virtual charter schools.

Advantages of Virtual Charter Schools

Customized, Personalized Learning

The largest advantage of virtual charter schools is their ability to offer students customized, individualized programs of study. In traditional public schools, teachers often have to

President Obama’s Race to the Top education initiative strongly supports charter schools, but can these institutions save failing public school districts? While there are currently more than 4,700 charter schools in America, their track record is mixed. Some campuses have garnered tremendous accolades and accomplishments, while other charter schools are negatively impacted by financial management issues, spotty performance, and disruptive conflict with teachers' unions and districts.

Charter Schools: Campuses that Outperform

Charter schools can provide students with a medley of benefits that the traditional public school finds difficult to rival. Typically, charter schools have smaller classes, which foster discussion and allow teachers to spend more time with each student. Other schools have experimented with innovative teaching methods, including curriculum focused on AP coursework or even virtual learning. For example, as reported by the , the students at the Basis Scottsdale Charter School in Arizona are required to take a minimum of six AP exams before their senior year.

While charter schools overall may have a mixed record of performance, research does demonstrate that the top charter schools outperform their traditional counterparts. As an reveals, after attending a Boston-area charter school for just one year, middle school students improved their academic performance by 15%. Another Stanford University study discovered that students attending New York City School District’s charter schools had a greater probability of closing performance gaps between themselves and their more affluent counterparts.

Could homeschooling no longer be an option that parents and students have? Based upon recent legal rulings, children can be mandated into public school classrooms, with parents stripped of their right to administer homeschooling. For example, in North Carolina, a judge recently demanded that one mother’s home-schooled children be removed from her “at home classroom” in order to engage in more “challenging” curriculum provided by publically funded schools. What does this hold for the future of homeschooling?

The Verdict on Home School Rights

As reveals, a North Carolina judge has demanded that one family’s children be placed in public schools after debating whether or not the children were receiving adequate lessons and assessments at home. The mother, in this case, Vanessa Mills, argues that she initially pulled her children from the public school environment because she felt that her kids were not being sufficiently challenged. As such, for the past four years, Vanessa Mills has been taking charge of her children’s educational development through at-home lessons and instruction. While most parents can capably educate their children at home, the Mills case is rare and complex, as the children’s father brought the issue to trial, arguing that the efforts were not up to par.

According to the father’s lawyer, speaking on his client’s behalf, homeschooling has not provided his children with adequate socialization that can be achieved from the public school

As more children of all ages are excelling in standard public school programs, many districts have implemented new curriculum pathways for accelerated learning opportunities. For students who demonstrate above-average cognitive potentials, International Baccalaureate Programs are providing gifted children with the chance to learn in an enhanced classroom with increased pace and rigor, amidst peers working at similar cognitive levels and abilities.

International Baccalaureate Programs (IB)

While each public school offers different honors and accelerated courses, International Baccalaureate programs are fully inclusive curriculum pathways. This means that, instead of only taking a few honors courses, students instead engage in a constant IB class schedule.

IB Programs are only available at specific schools; however, they are still publicly funded. Essentially, "The IB is a nonprofit educational foundation, motivated by its mission, focused on the student." Programs are available for students ranging from ages 3 to 19, to help develop the "intellectual, personal, emotional and social skills to live, learn and work in a rapidly globalizing world."

Since 1968, the IB Program has grown to work with 2,384 schools in 129 countries. Currently, 645,000 students are enrolled in the various IB Programs around the world, while being provided with three different programs: The Primary Years, The Middle Years, and The Diploma Program.

This video offers an overview of the International Baccalaureate Programme.

The Primary Years

The Primary