Students in a class with a teacher of the same gender perform better than if their teacher is of the opposite sex, finds a provocative new study. Rather than endorse single-sex education, study author Thomas Dee urges more research be done into the gender's effect on student learning. Dee said his research supports that gender matters when it comes to learning. Specifically, as he describes it, having a teacher of the opposite sex hurts a student's academic progress. Dee warns against drawing fast conclusions based on his work. He said he is not endorsing single-sex education or any other policy. Rather, he said he hopes his work will spur more research into gender's effect and what to do about it. His study comes as the proportion of male teachers is at its lowest level in 40 years. Roughly 80 percent of teachers in U.S. public schools are women.

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The study appears in the fall issue of Education Next. Read it online.