Today, women comprise almost half the workforce. Yet, they hold only a fraction of the jobs in certain high-earning, high-qualification fields, earning about 78 cents for every dollar that men are paid.

Women constitute 20 percent of the nation's engineers, fewer than one-third of its chemists and only about a quarter of its computer and math professionals.

As the current economic crisis sweeps across our nation, the challenge of ensuring equal educational opportunities for females becomes all the more compelling.

For the past two decades, educators have observed that girls tend to slide in confidence and academic achievement in early adolescence. As a result, interest in an all-girls' education has risen, first in the private sector and, more recently, in the public sector, following the U.S. Department of Education's 2006 authorization for single-sex classes in public schools under Title IX.

In this regard, the ongoing debate over all-girls' education has fostered a greater demand for credible evidence that it is effective. Since research data speaks to us with particular power, educators, policymakers and the public at large have been anxious to know whether an all-girls' education can make a positive difference.

For the first time, educators have solid evidence of the effectiveness of all-girls' schools. On March 17, UCLA's Graduate School of Education and Information Studies released the results of its renowned Freshman Survey, an annual nationwide study of students entering their first year of college. Commissioned by the National Coalition of Girls' Schools, this study contributes new and valuable data regarding the effectiveness of an all-girls' education.

The findings, assessed by Linda J. Sax and her colleagues, compare the achievements, aspirations and behaviors of 6,552 graduates from 225 all-girls' schools, and 14,684 of their peers from 1,169 coeducational schools.

According to UCLA's research, all-girls'-school graduates, entering their first year of college, consistently assess their abilities, self-confidence, engagement and ambition as stronger across the academic disciplines than do their peers from co-ed schools:

• Ten percent more all-girls'-school graduates rate their confidence in math and computer abilities high at the start of college compared with their peers from coed schools.

• More than 80 percent of all-girls'-school graduates consider their academic performance highly successful compared with 75 percent of women from coed schools.

• Nearly half of all women graduating from all-girls' schools (44.6 percent) rate their public speaking and writing ability high, compared with 38.5 percent of women graduates of coed schools.

• Graduates of all-girls' schools spend more time studying, doing homework, talking with teachers, tutoring peers and studying with others.

• All-girls'-school graduates are three times more likely than their coed peers to consider pursuing a career in engineering.

• More all-girls'-school graduates (71 percent) consider college a stepping stone to graduate school versus 66 percent from coed schools.

• Political engagement thrives in all-girls' schools: 57.9 percent of girls'-school graduates are likely to keep current with political issues compared with 47.7 percent of their coed peers.

Interestingly, the UCLA study states that all-girls'-school graduates rate themselves more successful and engaged in precisely those areas in which male students have historically surpassed them — mathematics, computers, engineering and politics.

Of course, we must not be too quick to draw unilateral conclusions about all-girls' schools. Nevertheless, this study suggests the following agenda for further in-depth research: How and why does an all-girls' school produce positive outcomes; which conditions can be transferred to coeducational schools; which types of students benefit most from an all-girls' education; and, do the benefits of all-girls' education continue to enhance the college experience and beyond.

Indeed, America's educational system draws strength from its diversity, not from rigid adherence to a one-size-fits-all solution.

We should welcome initiatives that recognize the effectiveness of all-girls' education. The recent UCLA research is a positive indicator that an all- girls' education is a viable option.

Betty White is the Head of School for Sacred Hearts Academy and is a trustee for the National Coalition of Girls Schools and a director for the Hawaii Association of Independent Schools. She wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.