Girls of Today, Leaders of Tomorrow: A Case Study on Alternative, Public, Single-Sex Schooling and Identity Formation

Supporters of single-sex schooling maintain that coeducational schools have a "hidden curriculum" which socializes boys and girls into traditional gender roles that hinder achievement, particularly for girls. However, research suggests that single-sex schools have little to no impact on academic achievement at all, and some research contends that single-sex schools promote traditional ideals of femininity, masculinity, and heteronormativity. This leads me to the questions: 1) What is an alternative model of single-sex schooling that empowers students to break free of hegemonic gender norms, and can it be powerful enough to challenge the traditional model of single-sex schooling? And 2) How do public, single-sex schools shape girls' identities? To explore this topic, I conducted semi-structured interviews with alumni and past faculty from the Young Women's Leadership Charter School (YWLCS), a public, all-girls charter school in Chicago that operated from 1999-2019. By synthesizing existing research on how schools promote a hidden curriculum of traditional gender norms, I propose that YWLCS is an example of an alternative model of public, single-sex schooling that can disrupt this hidden curriculum and empower girls' identities. Through using an identity experience framework to understand how identities are performed within schools, I argue that this case study on YWLCS can offer insight into how other public, all-girls schools can support the identities of their students.