By Rose Danthon

Staff Writer

In an effort to increase student achievement, Southfield Public Schools will undergo big changes next year.

Southfield High School will cluster all freshmen in their own separate wing in A House, and all of their core classes will be single-gender settings. Freshmen will have mentoring time with senior students, guest speakers and field trips, said Jacqueline Robinson, spokesperson for Southfield Public Schools.

Freshmen next year will have their own designated counselor to guide them through their high school transition. There will also be more ACT prep classes for all students, said Counselor Thomas Holliday.

Holliday had a lot to say about the upcoming changes: “We decided to do separate gender classes for freshmen because research shows that students are more distracted in co-ed classes, especially girls.”

Holliday said, “I think with any new program there are growing pains, and it will speak for itself if this new change works.”

But the popular question among students is who made the decision to have co-ed classes? Holliday says Superintendant Dr. Wanda Cook-Robinson approved the changes, but Principal Michael Horn recommended them to her.

Other schools have planned big changes. Southfield-Lathrup High School will also have freshman students in a separate wing of the building and they will be given more one-on-one time with their counselors.

University High School Academy will add an eighth grade class in the fall and will also have an advanced version of STEM (the study of science, technology, engineering and math).

Southfield Regional Academic Center also plans to add an eighth grade class in the fall, as well as Advanced STEM. Their eighth-, ninth- and tenth-graders will have core classes in single-gender settings.

Students have mixed opinions on the upcoming changes. Eighth grader Aytia Dawson, who attends Brace-Lederle school now but plans to attend Southfield High next year, said she does not like the idea of all-girl classes. “I think there will be more drama than there is now because sitting in a class hours and hours with all females will cause gossip and more arguments, which leads to fights.”

Dawson doesn’t like the idea of clustering freshmen in their own wing of the school, either: “Just because we’re freshmen doesn’t mean we should be separated from everyone.” But Junior Cortney Williams says she can see merit in all-boy and all-girl classes. “I feel that the gender separation classes are beneficial in many ways, and will have a positive impact on a lot of the freshman students.”

Williams said she thought the separation would allow them to be more focused on their work and on getting an education instead of considering what the opposite sex thinks of them.

Single-gender classes are especially common in South Carolina, where schools discovered it was an inexpensive and quick way to make changes that could impact student achievement.

Southfield High tried single-gender classes four years ago but abandoned the idea because it was difficult to schedule. Due to scheduling conflicts, the school had an occasional class that had all girls and one or two boys in it, and vice versa.

But the district has decided to revisit the concept, Holliday said, in hopes it will postively impact student grades.

Holliday reminds students that single-gender classes are only planned for freshmen at this time, and even freshmen will have co-ed elective classes.