Dayton Boys Prep Academy debuts this year
08/08/2006
On Aug. 7, school and community officials cut the ribbon to officially open the Dayton Boys Prep Academy—the district’s second single-gender school in as many years—offering parents another new public-school choice for their children’s education.
The new Dayton Boys Prep Academy will serve students in pre-kindergarten through grade three in its first year and will add a grade each year thereafter to eventually become a preK-8 school.
“These schools offer learning environments that will bring out the best in each gender—all in a free, public school setting,” Superintendent Mack said. “We believe our single-gender schools will provide opportunities for success without the distractions and social pressures that may exist in a coeducational school.”
The district’s Charity Adams Earley Academy for Girls, opened last August, has been welcomed by parents and has added third grade for 2006-2007.
Single-gender schools, considered to be cutting edge, have gained the enthusiastic support of many educators through demonstrated higher student performance, better attendance, lower dropout rates and greater leadership roles assumed by students.
Advantages of boys-only schools include the following:
• Boy-centered learning environment capitalizes on boys’ learning styles from both a developmental and psychological perspective.
• Teachers are professionally trained in the brain differences of boys and how they learn best.
• There is a single-minded focus on academics, without the distractions of a co-educational classroom.
Research shows that single-gender schools have a positive impact on student performance, goals for the future, school attendance, discipline problems, dropout rates and leadership roles.
Dayton Public Schools worked in partnership with the Odyssey Group, a local private education program design group, in the development of the single gender schools. The Odyssey Group assists schools in effective change for greater student success and achievement from kindergarten through high school.
Dayton Public Schools administrator Horace Lovelace is principal of the Dayton Boys Prep Academy. Lovelace, who has served DPS since 2002 as assistant principals at Meadowdale High School and Fairview Middle School, brings 18 years of experience to his new post, including three years as an instructor in a single-gender classroom.
“We look forward to the leadership Mr. Lovelace will bring to our new boys school,” DPS Deputy Superintendent Debra Brathwaite said. “We believe Dayton Boys Prep Academy can become a national model for single-gender education, and that our boys will thrive in an educational setting that meets their specific social, emotional and developmental needs.”
Lovelace has a Master of Education degree in educational leadership from Antioch University and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine. He holds dual principal licenses for grades K-9 and grades 4-12 and has pursued professional development in brain-based learning, gender-specific best practices, and single-sex education in a public elementary school.
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