By Karen Gutierrez
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Brandon Cole (left) and Justin Couch engage in horseplay Wednesday, writing on each other's arm and hand, during an all-boys sixth-grade math class at Newport Middle School. The Cincinnati Enquirer/PATRICK REDDY

NEWPORT - Chuck Faust had high hopes this year for an experiment at Newport Middle School: Putting boys and girls in separate classes to boost achievement.

It hasn't worked, he says.

Without girls as a calming influence, the rowdiness of boys seems to escalate, says Faust, principal of the middle school. Next year, the school plans to return to mixed-gender classes, even as a movement toward same-sex education picks up nationally.

Supporters say separating boys and girls allows them to concentrate more on schoolwork than each other.

So far, there isn't much hard evidence that academic performance always improves.

But schools are being encouraged by the federal government to give same-sex education a try. In March, the U.S. Department of Education proposed rule changes that would allow schools to do so without running afoul of gender-equity laws.

In Greater Cincinnati, Withrow University High School in Hyde Park already separates students by gender, and staffers give it high marks. Two years ago, the percentage of students passing the Ohio proficiency test was in the 40s. Now it's in the 90s, Withrow facilitator Diana Crawford says.

Without boys in class, "the girls are more apt to raise their hands and ask questions, to say that they don't understand something," Crawford says. Withrow soon hopes to be one of just a few urban high schools to get an "excellent" rating from the state, she says.

Newport Middle was hoping for similar results.

Since the fall, 150 sixth- and seventh-graders - about half the total - have been divided by gender for core academic classes.

Some girls like it. Without boys, they are more focused, and shy people feel more confident about speaking up, sixth-grader Olivia Merkle says.

But boys say they aren't learning as much.

"Sometimes it's a little wild. Guys are like, 'I'm going to beat you up,' and stuff like that," says sixth-grader Nathan Ilg of his all-boy classes. "If girls were around, they probably wouldn't cuss as much as they do."

Becky Lenihan, a 14-year teaching veteran, says she has written up more boys for discipline problems this year than in her entire career.

In addition, some teachers are unhappy they no longer have contact with the school's gifted students. The district requires those boys and girls to stay together in mixed-gender classes.

Not everyone at Newport Middle wants to give up on the experiment.

Marie Smith, a science teacher, says the all-boy classes may look like chaos but the boys are on task. They just work in a more physical way than girls.

"One year isn't long enough to try any program," Smith says.

David Johnstone agrees. He's the principal of Summit View Middle School in Independence, which this year separated boys and girls for some classes. It's working well enough to try for at least another year, Johnstone said.

He hopes to develop a pre- and post-test to determine exactly how student performance is affected. Just looking at annual state-test scores isn't enough, he says, because the school is trying so many things to improve.

"We're looking at better ways to evaluate (same-sex education) besides just, 'How do you like it?' " Johnstone says.

It's also crucial for teachers to be adequately trained, says Leonard Sax, executive director of the National Association for Single-Sex Public Education.

Some teachers adapt well to all-boy classrooms; others don't. Before switching, they should get at least a week of training to understand the different teaching methods required for boys and girls, Sax says.

"We find, unfortunately, a lot of schools aren't doing their homework, and if they don't, bad things will happen," Sax says.

E-mail kgutierrez@enquirer.com