Single-sex ed gets easier.

Thanks to a new federal law, school districts nationwide will have a greater opportunity to offer single-sex schooling options, provided there is a firm educational benefit to doing so.

In late October, the U.S. Department of Education announced the release of Title IX regulations that give more flexibility to districts to create single-sex classes or schools. Nonvocational single-sex classes are allowed if related to improving achievement or providing diverse opportunities. Single-sex schools can be set up if the district is willing to set up a "substantially equivalent" school for one or both genders, according to department information. "The amended regulations are designed to give more choices for children," says Katherine McLane, a department press secretary. "Research shows that some students better perform in a single-sex environment."

According to the National Association of Single Sex Public Education, a benefit to single-sex education is that girls in a single sex classroom are more likely to study subjects like math, computer science and physics. Conversely, boys are more likely to study foreign languages and the arts.

Leonard Sax, executive director for the National Association of Single Sex Public Education, believes the news is long overdue. The program was enacted in 2002 with the advent of No Child Left Behind regulations but held up by Washington political machinations, he says. "Why did it take four years? This was not something the Bush administration had any interest in. They have been extraordinarily unhelpful," Sax says. However, he does feel the announcement comes "better late than never." "One need not assert all girls learn one way and all boys another," Sax says. "The evidence [for the benefit of single-sex education] is quite striking."

Yet some powerful groups oppose the measure, saying it encourages gender stereotyping and is based on spurious research: And Jocelyn Samuels, vice president of education and employment for the National Women's Law Center, is among them. She believes single-sex education can be beneficial in carefully defined circumstances. However, she believes the new regulations are too broad to be constitutionally defensible. "It stands to endanger equal opportunity for both boys and girls," she says. And she thinks the regulations would not stand up to a court challenge. "Never before have parents been able to dictate a school's civil rights responsibilities," she says. The American Civil Liberties Union had successfully combated public single-sex education in Louisiana and plans to keep an eye on any developments at the local level. "The regulations allow schools to separate girls and boys for virtually any reason they can dream up--including outdated and dangerous gender stereotypes," says Emily Martin, deputy director of the ACLU Women's Rights Project.