ABSTRACT
This study examines the perceptions of high school female and male students in single-sex math classes in a coeducational public high school. Interview and observation data were collected over a period of a school year. A qualitative research design and data analysis were used. Specifically, students were interviewed and asked how they felt about being in a class with students of their own sex and without students of the other sex. They also were asked to describe whether or not they felt the single-sex class construction had an effect on their math achievement. Results suggested that, with the exception of one male student, all students viewed their single-sex class as having been beneficial to them. However, the perceptions of why the class was important were differentiated by sex. The young women felt a sense of ownership and territoriality toward their single-sex math class, whereas the young men found the setting less distracting, but otherwise unexceptional.
