Single‐sex schools and physics achievement: are girls really advantaged?

The assertion that girls and boys in single‐sex schools outperform their peers attending co‐educational schools was investigated in this study with particular reference to physics achievement. The relationship between the school, the home and the student's performance in physics was also explored tentatively using multilevel analysis. The average home background (called socio‐educational level in this study) was found to contribute towards student achievement to a greater extent when compared with such school effects as school type and the sex composition of the school. The importance of the use of the multilevel model in estimating microparameters such as sex differences, as well as macroparameters such as school type, is illustrated in this study by the significant influence of the school aggregate variable, socio‐educational level. This is a preliminary report describing some of the school and home effects influencing student performance using multilevel statistical methodology.