A significant benefit of single-sex education is that students will be more likely to take courses that in a coeducational environment, might not be "cool" for their sex.

     The conventional thinking thirty years ago was that coeducation would break down gender stereotypes.  That thinking turned out to be flawed.  Boys in coeducational settings are less likely to take courses in the arts or tackle advanced academic subjects simply to avoid being typecast as a "nerd."  Similarly girls avoid the sciences and technology subjects because they don't want to appear to be "tomboys."  Private single sex schools are flourishing once again because parents have realized that learning is probably more important than being properly socialized. (Kennedy)

     Boys and girls pay less attention to their natural roles of competitors vs. shy in  single-sex environments where there is no concern over who they are impressing.

     Boys tend to soften their competitive edge and become more collaborative in a single sex setting.  They can just be "boys" and not worry about what the "girls" might think.
Girls drop their shyness and begin to take risks in a single sex setting.  They become more competitive.  They embrace sports like field hockey and soccer with gusto without worrying about appearing like tom boys. (Kennedy)

     Single-sex education allows students to explore academic and extra-curricular boundaries that might be taboo in a coeducational environment.  Girls relax enough to feel comfortable exploring non-traditional subjects such as mathematics, advanced sciences, computers and technology, wood-working and so on. Boys participate in choirs and orchestras and learn Latin in single sex settings. (Kennedy)

     Single-sex education gives students a chance to grow and mature before they have to deal with interaction with the other sex.  It allows them to begin the socialization process once they have a greater sense of self and are less affected by what the other gender might think of them.

     Title IX regulations, written in 1975, allow for the establishment of single-sex schools and classrooms as long as comparable education opportunities are created for the excluded sex. In fact, 25 single-sex public schools have been established in the United States. By law, single-sex classes can be created to remedy past discrimination to allow girls and women to overcome historical barriers to equal education.  Title IX includes exceptions that permit specified separate gender programs including physical education classes involving contact sports, human sexuality for elementary and secondary schools, and choirs.  Title IX explicitly prohibits single-sex education in the context of vocational education, professional education, graduate-level education, and public institutions of higher education.

     Coeducational environments place men and women together in settings that would be comparable to the world.  It is said that segregating the sexes makes it more apparent that the sexes are different and have different means of learning.  If this is true, men and women may be unprepared for dealing with gender issues later in life.  If students grow up together and learn to work together, they may be more socially ready to compete with each other after school.

     Below are more links consisting of research on the single-sex education issue

http://www.singlesexschools.org/evidence.html 

     The National Association for Single-Sex Public Education goes over research and promotes the benefits of single-sex education for gender equality

http://www.womensenews.org/article.cfm/dyn/aid/571/context/cover/ -

     Results against single-sex education in Californina, stating that it is not a cure-all for gender related education problems

http://www.literacytrust.org.uk/Research/ressinglesex.html

     This is a site relating research that claims there is no impact either way.