Academic Performance and Single-Sex Schooling:Evidence from a Natural Experiment in Switzerland

We study the effects of random assignment to coeducational andsingle-sex classes on the academic performance of female highschool students. Our estimation results show that single-sexschooling improves the performance of female students inmathematics. This positive effect increases if the single-sex class istaught by a male teacher. An accompanying survey reveals thatsingle-sex schooling also strengthens female students’ selfconfidenceand renders the self-assessment of their mathematicsskills more level-headed. Single-sex schooling thus has profoundimplications for human capital formation and the mind-set offemale students.