Now that has changed. Boys are in one class, girls are in another, a rare practice in Boston, and a way of educating students that has stirred debate nationally. And pupils, teachers said, are more focused, making learning easier.
Simmons worried that if someone did not intervene, these boys, most of whom are black and Latino, were destined to become statistics: Students of color drop out of high school more than their peers. So, she had a thought: Give me all the boys.
“If they don’t get their education at a young age, get that foundation, they don’t want to be in school by the time they get into middle school,’’ she said. “It’s frustrating for kids when they can’t do what everyone else in the classroom can.’’
Principal Joy Oliver bought in to the idea of dividing the boys and girls into different classes because the pupils’ needs were so different. The girls, Oliver said, were more mature and more verbal than the boys, who tended to be more physical.
So now the boys get more breaks to blow off steam, and there is more movement during the day, with lessons alternating between the carpet and their desks. During math bingo, they spread out across the room in groups of two.
Still, Oliver knows that having a gender-specific first-grade class opens her Roxbury school to increased scrutiny because single-sex classes remain controversial.
“If someone objects, we would have to reconsider,’’ Oliver said. “We know we’re kind of skirting a fine line here.’’
So far, parents at Higginson-Lewis have been uniformly supportive.
Tracy Powell said her son Joshua’s transformation has been amazing.
“Now, he focuses on school more; he stays out of trouble,’’ Powell, 22, said of her son, who at 7 has had his first crush. “He gets in trouble with the girls.’’
As Simmons ties Joshua’s shoe after school, she repeats a common refrain: “You can have a girlfriend at 18.’’ His smile wrinkles into a frown.
