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Why Are Single-Sex Schools Successful?

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  • Christian Dustmann
  • Hyejin Ku
  • Do Won Kwak

Abstract

We exploit two unusual policy features of academic high schools in Seoul, South Korea—random assignment of pupils to high schools within districts and conversion of some existing single-sex schools to the coeducational (coed) type over time—to identify three distinct causal parameters: the between-school effect of attending a coed (versus a single-sex) school; the within-school effect of school-type conversion, conditional on (unobserved) school characteristics; and the effect of class-level exposure to mixed-gender (versus same-sex) peers. We find robust evidence that pupils in single-sex schools outperform their counterparts in coed schools, which could be due to single-sex peers in school and classroom, or unobservable school-level covariates. Focusing on switching schools, we find that the conversion of the pupil gender type from single-sex to coed leads to worse academic outcomes for both boys and girls, conditional on school fixed effects and time-varying observables. While for boys, the negative effect is largely driven by exposure to mixed-gender peers at school-level, it is class-level exposure to mixed-gender peers that explains this disadvantage for girls.

Suggested Citation

  • Christian Dustmann & Hyejin Ku & Do Won Kwak, 2017. "Why Are Single-Sex Schools Successful?," CESifo Working Paper Series 6535, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_6535
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    3. Pregaldini, Damiano & Backes-Gellner, Uschi & Eisenkopf, Gerald, 2020. "Girls’ preferences for STEM and the effects of classroom gender composition: New evidence from a natural experiment," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 178(C), pages 102-123.
    4. Nguyen, Ha Trong & Brinkman, Sally & Le, Huong Thu & Zubrick, Stephen R. & Mitrou, Francis, 2022. "Gender differences in time allocation contribute to differences in developmental outcomes in children and adolescents," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
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    6. Lee, Youngju & Nakazawa, Nobuhiko, 2022. "Does single-sex schooling help or hurt labor market outcomes? Evidence from a natural experiment in South Korea," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 214(C).
    7. Eleanor Jawon Choi & Hyungsik Roger Moon & Geert Ridder, 2019. "Within-District School Lotteries, District Selection, and the Average Partial Effects of School Inputs," Korean Economic Review, Korean Economic Association, vol. 35, pages 275-306.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    gender; single sex schools; school inputs; random assignment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I20 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - General
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination

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