COLUMBIA, S.C. — The federal No Child Left Behind law has made it easier for local school districts to implement single-gender schools, but separating the sexes in public schools has received mixed reviews so far.

At least 363 public schools across the country now offer single-sex educational opportunities, according to the single-sex education association.

No Child Left Behind allows districts to use public school funds for single-gender education and directed the U.S. Education Department to update its rules, which it did last year.

The new rules made it easier to implement same-sex education anytime schools think it will improve students' achievement, expand the diversity of courses or meet kids' individual needs.

Kim Gandy, president of the National Organization for Women, believes states should not advocate educational experiments. Segregating boys and girls could damage students if boys come away with sexist ideas of being superior, or if students are boxed into learning a certain way, she said.

She also questioned whether single-gender programs' successes are due to good teachers and smaller classes, not sex segregation.

"There are ways to appeal to interests and learning styles and abilities without lumping people based on gender, which is not a good measure of anything," Gandy said.

However, the country's first and only statewide coordinator of single-gender education, David Chadwell of South Carolina, is helping to make South Carolina a leader among public schools that offer such programs.

About 70 schools offer the program now, and the goal is to have programs available to every child within five years, he said.

The theory is that by separating girls and boys — especially during middle school years typically marked by burgeoning hormones, self-doubt and peer pressure — lessons can be more effective because they are in unique classroom settings.

Chadwell, a Detroit native, had spent years in classrooms elsewhere, including teaching in a Quaker school outside Philadelphia and helping start a school in China, before he began teaching in South Carolina in 1999.

Five years later, aiming to create what he calls the "best middle school experience possible," Chadwell helped launch South Carolina's first public, all-day single-sex program. Then came new state schools Superintendent Jim Rex's push to expand single-gender education to give parents more options within public schools, and Chadwell seemed perfect to head those efforts. He took the post in July.

"No other state has anyone remotely like David Chadwell," said Leonard Sax, founder of the National Association for Single-Sex Public Education and the author of "Why Gender Matters." "It's such an advantage to have a knowledgeable person who's led the format himself in a public school saying 'This works and this doesn't work.' "

"I'm hopeful we'll see more states following South Carolina's lead," Sax said.

LEARN MORE: Association for Single-Sex Public Education: www.singlesexschools.org