Why a Girls' School

Julia Morgan School for Girls is the first and only all-girls middle school in the East Bay. Research demonstrates that girls attending coeducational schools do not receive equal opportunities to excel academically and socially. According to the American Association of University Women, “curricula continue to reflect inequities, as materials by and about women remain peripheral, and teaching approaches continue to favor predominantly male interactional styles. Girls’ self-esteem and confidence...particularly with regard to math and science, drop precipitously during their middle school years, narrowing their later choices of course work and career path.”

The International Coalition of Girls’ Schools demonstrates that in coed classrooms girls often contend with:

• fewer opportunities to participate,
• pressure to conform to stereotypes,
• lowered teacher expectations,
• limited encouragement in math & science,
• unequal sports opportunities, and
• insufficient female role models.

In contrast, at a girls’ school, they discover not only equal opportunity, but every opportunity. Students experience the freedom to speak up, ask questions, debate issues, and defend points of view. Girls fill every role at an all-girls school; they are the speakers, thinkers, writers, singers, artists, scientists, athletes, actors, and leaders. Graduates of girls’ schools are more motivated and have higher aspirations than their peers at coeducational schools.