Out of every state in the nation, South Carolina offers the most single-sex school programs. As a matter of fact, they're offered in more than 150 South Carolina schools.

A survey conducted this year revealed the reason--more than 5,000 students, 720 parents, and 680 students gave the programs rave reviews, saying the programs help students in areas such as confidence, independence, and class participation. Both boys and girls showed improvement, and African Americans were the ethnicity that showed the largest improvement.

A South Carolina paper also mentioned that "Nearly three-fifths of the students said single-gender classes had increased their grades, self-confidence, interest in trying new ways of learning, class participation and ease in making friends."

However, critics of single-sex education point out that students will have to interact in a mixed-sex environment eventually, and that single-sex programs don't help students learn how to interact with other genders.

Furthermore, students who might not conform to gender norms--or who just don't feel comfortable interacting with only one sex--can be very isolated and left-out in such programs.

What do you think about single-sex programs? Do you think they help students? Or are they actually debilitating? Comment below!

President Obama gave a speech on education in Madison, Wisconsin on November 4th, to talk about his "Race to the Top" plan and how to revamp "No Child Left Behind." Obama claimed that "What we [the administration] want to do is try and get testing right," but also called on parents to toughen their own standards for their kids, sharing a story about how he and the First Lady pushed their daughter Malia to excell, and even revealed some of Malia's recent test scores.

In Britain, new legislation will make sex education a required course in 2011 starting at the age of five, with lessons on "different kinds of relationships, how to manage their emotions and the physical changes to their bodies in childhood," according to the Guardian. This program is being enacted to combat Britain's high teen pregnancy rate. However, although religious schools would be required to teach the courses as well, they can modify the courses according to their own "ethos," and parents can remove their children from the sex ed programs until the age of 16.

We all know that higher education tuition is skyrocketing, but there are now 58 colleges that have hit the $50,000+ marker compared to last year's 5, according to the New York Times. These colleges include Bryn Mawr, Johns Hopkins University, and Georgetown. However, costs can also be significantly more, due to textbooks, housing, and other student expenditures.

In Pakistan, where education spending remains at about 2.9% of its gross domestic product, private schools have been popping up to combat the inadequate public school system and the religiously-oriented madrassas. Though these private schools are small and still contain much religious content, Pakistani parents continue to send their children there, and the United States is sending a small amount of aid to private schools in the hopes that they will counter religious extremism often spread by madrassas.

The New Mexico Senate proposed a new budget earlier this week that will cut all public agencies by $314 million, with a 6% cut to public education--more than $140 million. The new budget also reduced higher education spending by almost $52 million. However, the budget plan is still controversial and discussions are continuing.

The Obama administration announced that federal aid and stimulus packages have saved 250,000 education jobs. However, many schools continue to face tremendous budget shortcomings, and The National Conference of State Legislatures reported that 27 states have deficits at least $61 billion.

Theodore Sizer, an education reformer who headed Ivy League education departments and high schools, died from colon cancer on Friday, October 23, at the age of 77.

At Columbia Teachers College in New York City, Secretary of Education Arne Duncan slammed teacher training schools, exclaiming that the schools were just "cash cows" that need "revolutionary change." He pushed for more practical training in the classroom for teachers, and more stringent requirements for licensing.

Due to budget cuts, Hawaii schools are implementing 34 "furlough Fridays" over the course of the next two school years, drawing large parent protests. The Hawaiian school year is already shorter than in most US states, and the furloughs will reduce the teaching days to 163 a year, compared to 180 in most US school districts. Furthermore, Hawaii is ranked 47th out of the 50 states in school performance, causing even more outrage--even from Education Secretary Arne Duncan--over the first furlough on Friday, October 23.

A comprehensive study has just been released by the Center for Arts Education (CAE), a nonprofit in New York City, which found that New York City schools that offered good arts programs also had high graduation rates. The schools in the top third of graduation rates had more certified arts teachers, better arts facilities, and even developed partnerships with local arts organizations and encouraged students to be involved in the programs.

CAE's report adds that "in several national studies over the past decade, students at risk of dropping out cite participation in the arts as  their reason for staying in school. Research has also shown that arts education has had a measurable impact on at-risk youth in deterring delinquent behavior and truancy problems while also increasing overall academic performance."

This is definitely a good point, but another correlation between arts education and dropout rates could be the fact that schools who can afford arts programs are often in wealthier neighborhoods with predominantly Caucasian demographics--areas that traditionally have higher graduation rates. And although the study makes broad recommendations for improvement, such as "high school principals should expand course offerings in the four arts disciplines" and "arts spaces should be incorporated into the design and construction of all future school facilities," many school districts simply do not have enough money to follow up on these suggestions.

Those that do have the funds are more interested in spending their money on standardized-test-oriented subjects, like English and math. The standardized test is so ever-present in our society, from elementary to high school, that despite the study's claims, schools are unlikely to shift their focus, especially when governmental programs such as No Child Left Behind reward those schools with higher test scores.

I would love it if every student had access to a good arts program. I don't doubt CAE's claims, and certainly believe arts in schools can greatly improve student performance, and even overall happiness. However, it will take a shift in our priorities to allow students to get the arts programs that they deserve. Once our nation starts funding our schools and shifting away from the focus on standardized tests, then can we reap the benefits CAE shows exists.

The US Department of Education just opened its newest stimulus fund, the i3 fund, for school districts with especially innovative ideas. There are stringent requirements to receive the money, and the funding can be pulled at any time, yet the money will go directly to school districts. Check out CNN's coverage here.

Education Secretary Arne Duncan visited Chicago after the recent death of a high school student there. Derrion Albert was beaten to death by a mob of teens, and some people are blaming the death on Secretary Duncan's plans as the former head of Chicago Public Schools, where many failing campuses were closed down and students moved to different schools, often across rival gang lines. The Associated Press has the details.

A new study has shown that people who have a poor education may end up having poor health. Although scientists are still deliberating about what causes this phenomenon, hypotheses include increased income and benefits from higher education, better understanding of medical concepts, and having more leeway to take days off when sick. Learn more about the study here.

In honor of Columbus Day, classrooms all across America are trying to portray this very controversial figure in a more balanced light. The Associated Press writes about teachers who are trying all sorts of methods, from dressing up like Columbus, to having students put the man on trial. Find out what else schools are doing here.

Which demographic of people is the majority in prison? Young black men who have dropped out of high school. According to Reuters, 23% of black male dropouts ages 16 to 24 are in jail any given day, compared to 6-7% of Asian, Hispanic, or White dropouts. Read more about this crisis and others affecting young adults who drop out of high school.