The normative environments of 15 representative single-sex and coeducational independent schools in the United States were assessed by Trickett and Moos's Classroom Environment Scale and a Student Experience Questionnaire. Data gathered in 78 classrooms and from a stratified random sample of 456 students in 15 schools showed that the environments of these two types of independent schools differ from one another and from the normative classroom environments of public schools. Single-sex schools were perceived as having a more academic orientation, with greater task emphasis and competition, than coeducational independent schools, and independent schools in general were perceived as having classrooms that were more involving, organized, and less rule-oriented than public school classrooms. These differences are discussed as a function of the purpose and histories of the various types of school, including issues of student and faculty selection differences.
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