Mary Bramlett Elementary teacher Tracy Jones was among 300 teachers from South Carolina and other states who spent Saturday learning more about singlegender education.

The professional development day was held at Dent Middle School in Columbia.

Teachers chose from 30 workshop topics aimed at helping them operate a more effective single-gender classroom. It was sponsored by the S.C. Department of Education's Office of Public School Choice.

Jones is in her first year teaching an all-girls class at Mary Bramlett Elementary.

Mary Bramlett has divided its fifth grade students into three classrooms this school year.

One class is a traditional mix of boys and girls, while the other two are single-gender classes.

Jones was joined at the training session by second grade teachers from Mary Bramlett.

The school is looking at a possible expansion of the single gender program next school year.

"One important reason that this program was started was to meet the needs of both girls and boys by allowing them to learn in the best learning environment possible," Jones said. "Boys and girls think and learn differently. By allowing them to be in separate classrooms, we have seen a lot of improvement from the students this year - particularly in math."

South Carolina has been portrayed in recent national news reports as a pioneer in singlegender programs.

State Superintendent of Education Jim Rex hired David Chadwell, the nation's first statewide single-gender coordinator, to help local districts get the programs started. About 90 South Carolina public schools offer the option to parents. About 100 more schools are expected to do so next school year.