News 12 at 6 o'clock, July 24, 2008

NORTH AUGUSTA, S.C.---The results of a new survey in South Carolina show students, parents, and teachers agree that single-gender classrooms help children learn. Some Aiken County schools are one step ahead of this trend.

North Augusta Elementary is about to start their third year of fifth grade same-gendered classes. They've seen positive results, and turns out, students really like the change. "Everybody was like a big family and we were all sisters and we could tell secrets, like anytime," says fifth grader Mary Elizabeth Owens.

Mary-Elizabeth just got out of a single-gendered fifth grade class. Her mother says, she learned more and they could tell a difference. "We saw a difference in her pride about her school work and then also the pride she's taking in herself as well. It was just an incredible change, and an incredible year of maturity," says Mary-Elizabeth's mother Rayna Owens.

Same-gendered classes are popping up all around South Carolina. Two-hundred and fifty schools will start some form of it this school year, up from only seventy last year. And now, thanks to this new survey, the schools have the statistics to back it up.

"There's one unarguable success and that is that 87 percent of students this year in fifth grade improved their report card average in three, four or five subjects," says North Augusta Elementary School Principal Angela Burkhalter.

The South Carolina Department of Education is focused on expanding curriculum choices. They've even created a new office and hired the nations first single-gender coordinator.

More than 2,500 students, parents, and teachers all took part in the servery and most of them gave the program props. Two-thirds of students who responded to the survey enjoyed the new class, and feel they learned more. 75 percent of their parents agreed, and 80 percent of the teacher's saw improvements in their classrooms.

For Rayna Owens, she's got a daughter leaving fifth grade, and son getting ready to start it.

"Both of my children are very active in sports and its almost like being on a team. Everyone has their place -- you just have to find that place. And that's part of growing up," says Rayna.

Now parents do have a choice if they don't want their child in a single-gendered class, they have an option of sending them to another school. But according to the new survey, 75 percent of parents would keep their child in the class.