A Math Class of Their Own

There’s something different about Robin Berman’s sixth-period math class.

When Berman reviews a homework problem on the whiteboard and asks, “Does angle C equal angle F?” the chorus of voices that answers is distinctly female.

There are no boys here. Zero, naught.

The all-girl geometry class at Capistrano Valley High in Mission Viejo is part of a pilot project designed to see whether girls learn math better on their own--and whether the absence of boys might make them feel less intimidated about asking questions.

Berman, a math teacher for more than 20 years, wanted to test studies showing that girls learn math and science better in single-gender classes.

Initial plans called for her to have one mixed-gender geometry class and one all-girl class this fall. But so many girls signed up that, instead, she found herself with two all-girl classes, with 30 students in one and 25 in the other.

Berman also teaches two mixed-gender calculus classes and volunteers to lead a mixed Saturday math class.

Students in the pilot program were recommended by algebra teachers and guidance counselors who were asked to seek out girls who were doing C and C- work and could use some help on the road to four-year colleges, where high school geometry is required.

“These are students whose progress report in math usually says, ‘Trying but still needs work,’ ” Berman said. “A lot of them are really good in English and liberal arts, but you still need math.”

Berman prepared for the classes by doing research on the Internet, interviewing other teachers who have worked with girls and borrowing techniques and suggested activities from them.

“At first, I was doing a lot of encouraging. They have to get comfortable with each other, but it didn’t take as long as it usually does” in a mixed class, she said.

Soon, the girls were responding easily to prompts such as, “If the sides are equal, what does that mean?” and doing so in greater numbers than in mixed classes, where it’s often the same few students who do all the answering, she said. Studies show that boys are more assertive in answering questions in math classes.

Berman drew on her own experiences as a math student in creating a class for girls in which questions are encouraged.

“I know when I was in high school I used to have to ask questions and the teacher would get mad at me,” she said. The questions she gets from students in both of the all-girl classes amaze her.

“They are pulling stuff out from sections that we haven’t covered yet but they are seeing it now and they aren’t afraid to talk about it.”

So, how are the girls doing?

Berman doesn’t have enough numbers to reach a preliminary conclusion, but says she is impressed with the girls’ test scores so far: a C- has been the low mark.

The material is the same as that covered in other geometry classes and is graded the same way. The work isn’t any easier, she stressed. But the Fs and Ds she would normally have in a mixed class aren’t showing up, so far.

At the end of January, when the first semester is over, Berman plans to begin working with a statistics teacher to determine how well the girls are doing compared with students in mixed classes.

What do the girls think?

“We’re all getting a C or higher and I think this class has the best average of all the geometry classes,” said junior Robin Shapiro.

Andrea Muscarella, also a junior, said she thought the class was easy, a comment that drew quick disagreement from Shapiro.

“I meant learning is easier,” Muscarella said. “I learn it in class and I don’t have to study for tests because I know it.”

Another plus is that students who produce incorrect answers don’t feel embarrassed, she said.

“If you get something wrong with a male math teacher, they give you this look, they put you down in front of the class,” Muscarella said.

Do the girls miss having guys in class?

“No!” was the emphatic response.

There’s a sense of community in the classroom and a touch of girls club camaraderie that could be the confidence-builder many educators think girls lack when it comes to math and science.

“We can talk about anything we want,” said Monica Murray, another junior.

Nationally, the once-alarming math gender gap among 7-, 13- and 17-year-old students has disappeared, according to National Assessment of Educational Progress test scores released last August. But that statistic applies to students in general, and includes many who are not college-bound.

Without the all-girl classes that Berman is teaching, the students who have enrolled “probably wouldn’t have taken geometry at all,” said Capistrano Valley High Principal Sherine Smith.

Among college-bound students who take the SAT test, a gender gap remains, although it is narrowing. The 41-point advantage males had in the 1980s dropped to 35 points this year.

But although girls’ math scores have increased and their enrollment in college math classes has gone up, relatively few women enter the fields of science, engineering and technology.

Creating the pilot program was “a little bit of a step into the unknown,” said Patrick Levens, the district’s executive director of secondary instruction services. He collaborated with Berman on the idea and district trustees approved.

The all-girl classes are not unique.

Fullerton’s Nicolas Junior High offered a girls-only algebra class in 1997 but dropped it for lack of interest. The Orange County Department of Education operates a Single Gender Academy, which offers separate classes for males and females in the same Fountain Valley building.

Nationally, single-sex math and science classes get mixed reviews from educators.

The National Assn. of Elementary School Principals frowns on them, noting in its Principal Online Web site that although girls prefer the classes, a study by the American Assn. of University Women found no accompanying achievement gains.

But better grades might not be the deciding factor in April, when the Capistrano district will either drop the project for next year or continue and expand it to other high schools, Levens said.

“It may not necessarily be that they get better grades. It may be about better understanding, more mastery.” When course work comes back to a math concept six months after it was first introduced and the students still have a grasp of it or can look at it in complex ways, he said, “that’s great, too.”