The Whole Girl Education National Conference: March 17-19, 2024
Girls’
Education
In 1996, Student Leadership Network opened the United States’ first all-girls public school in 30 years, The Young Women’s Leadership School (TYWLS) of East Harlem. The success of our NYC TYWLS then inspired dozens of single-gender Young Women’s Leadership Network (YWLN) schools to open nationwide, further advancing our work towards gender equity. Today we impact approximately 10,000 students every year across the country.
Core Pillars
Developing Tomorrow’s
Leaders Today
Our vision was to provide girls and gender-expansive youth growing up in underserved communities with a high-quality college preparatory education based on the finest private school models. Our Whole Girl Education framework supports and inspires the leaders of tomorrow’s competence in four core areas:
Leadership
Respect for yourself and others, striving for personal and academic excellence, and commitment to service that affects positive social change.
Early College & Career Awareness
Access to our CollegeBound Initiative directors of college counseling as early as 6th grade and interactions with professionals from a variety of fields.
Health & Wellness
Enhanced understanding of nutrition, emotional wellbeing, trauma recovery, and physical fitness for our students, teachers, and administrators.
STEM
A rigorous academic track in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) with a focus on computer science.
The Young Women’s Leadership Schools
The Young Women’s Leadership Schools (TYWLS) are public secondary schools for grades 6–12 that promote high-quality student learning opportunities in and out of the classroom. Our schools provide a single-gender educational choice for students who are often the first in their families to attend college. Students are admitted based on their interest in and commitment to obtaining a single-gender college-preparatory education. TYWLS are open to girls and gender-expansive youth of all academic abilities.
Girls’ Education research guides our TYWLS model, and our schools combine the best practices of all-girls education with effective strategies that address the array of challenges faced by at-risk students. The result is an academically rigorous program fused with strong social-emotional support that forms the basis of TYWLS’ Whole Girl Education framework. TYWLS graduates complete a degree in STEM-related fields at nearly twice the rate of young women nationally.
Program Details
How We Support Our Schools
SL Network provides TYWLS’ students, teachers, and administrators with opportunities, support, and resources that enhance teaching and learning.
Students
- SL Network’s signature college guidance program, CollegeBound Initiative (CBI), is a major component of success at our schools. When each TYWLS school grows to include tenth grade, SL Network places a CBI director of college counseling in the school to implement a comprehensive early college awareness and college guidance program.
- Network-wide events are planned for students in grades 6–12 to enhance their college and career preparedness.
- Extended-day and yearlong enrichment programs focused around SL Network’s core areas allow our students to expand their learning beyond the classroom.
Teachers
- TYWLS teachers receive many opportunities for professional development, including new teacher onboarding and network-wide collaborative meetings to share best practices.
- To support and recognize high-quality teaching, SL Network funds curriculum grants for teachers’ classroom innovations and sponsors incentive programs, such as teaching awards and travel grants.
Principals
- SL Network offers TYWLS principals individualized mentoring, funding for specialized professional development, an annual Principals’ Retreat, and a Summer Planning Institute to facilitate academic year preparations.
If you are a student or a caretaker of a student interested in attending TYWLS, please note that each school hosts open houses for prospective students. Contact the school directly for open house dates and to sign up.
Young Women’s Leadership Network
Young Women’s Leadership Network (YWLN) is a national network of single-gender public schools providing an excellent whole model education that challenges the educational and gender inequities that persist in our country. Since 2001, our YWLN footprint has grown to include affiliate schools in California, Maryland, Missouri, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, and our partner network – the Young Women’s Preparatory Network (YWPN) – in Texas.
Program Details
How We Support YWLN Schools
Our support encompasses board members, school leaders, teachers, and students. All our services consider the social, emotional, and educational needs of girls and gender-expansive youth.
- 100% of our YWLN affiliate schools have received approval on their new school applications (charter or district) the first time they applied.
- 100% of affiliate schools have had their charters renewed since establishing partnership with YWLN.
- 100% of participants in our 2020 Leadership Development Series training reported that “I left with practices or ideas that are helpful to me or my school.”
- 96% of the class of 2020 at our affiliate schools graduated on time, and were accepted to college.
- 100% of the Class of 2020 from our partner network, the Young Women’s Preparatory Network, graduated from high school and were accepted to college.
TYWLS at the Workplace
Students from TYWLS East Harlem recently visited Estee Lauder Companies as part of our TYWLS at the Workplace volunteer program.