International Coalition of Girls' Schools

In 1987, Rachel Belash contacted heads of girls' boarding schools urging them to collaborate on a market research project to respond to declining enrollments at their schools. A steering committee was formed, and in 1988, the firm Ransome/Maguire was hired to conduct a study. In 600 phone interviews with prospective and current parents of girls' boarding schools across the country, girls' schools were cited for their academic excellence and their ability to provide a communal environment that encouraged personal and academic exploration in a supportive culture. Girls' schools were seen as ideal settings for adolescent girls since they supported risk-taking, encouraged academic excellence, prepared girls for college and the real world, and fostered a sense of leadership and self-development. However, one troubling finding was the perception among many of the respondents that coed schools had stronger programs in math and science. Educators at girls' schools were astonished by this perception, and this finding led CGBS to focus on showcasing the strength of girls' schools in the fields of math and science.

In 1989, Arlene Gibson encouraged heads of girls' day schools to convene at that year's Headmistresses Association of the East conference. As a result of the meeting a steering committee was formed which hired in 1990 Yankelovich, Shulman, and Clancy as research consultants. Commissioned by CGDS, the firm surveyed 1,200 girls' school graduates. Half of those surveyed graduated between 1955 and 1960; the others between 1975 and 1980. The study confirmed many of the same conclusions of the CGBS report. Graduates cited strong preparation for college and personal development as key benefits they received from their all-girls education. CGDS used these findings to develop a major media campaign showcasing the positive attitudes of girls' school alumnae. By researching and promoting the concept of single-gender schooling, the Coalition of Girls' Boarding Schools and the Coalition of Girls' Day Schools became leaders in the national dialogue on girls' and women's issues. Those educators who were experienced with teaching only girls were determined to use the two studies to paint a different picture of the role of girls' schools in American education. The findings of the studies gave administrators in girls' schools important talking points for future marketing and promotional literature.

Strengthened by their new data, the CGBS and CGDS leadership realized there was great power in collective action. In November 1991, the steering committees of both organizations met and agreed to merge. Fifty-six independent and religiously-affiliated schools officially came together to form the National Coalition of Girls' Schools. Its first collective undertaking: a comprehensive campaign to heighten the visibility and document the value of the girls' school experience.

Margaret "Meg" Moulton and Whitney "Whitty" Ransome, who had been serving as the Executive Directors of the Coalition of Girls' Boarding Schools since 1989, were asked to stay on as the founding Executive Directors of NCGS.

In the proceeding years, collaboration replaced competition. Research supported belief. The climate and conversation shifted. Moulton and Ransome's collaborative leadership and relentless advocacy on behalf of girls' schools helped set NCGS on the path to success.

Public relations became a main priority during the Coalition's first decade. The goal was to both increase public awareness of the benefits of all-girls education for girls and to help individual NCGS member schools with their own public relations efforts. NCGS worked to establish a media presence through published press releases, radio and print interviews, and letters to the editor. These efforts helped position NCGS as an expert on girls' education. In January 1992, when the AAUW released the report, Shortchanging Girls, Shortchanging America, which highlighted key areas of gender inequity in American education, NCGS moved swiftly to position itself in response to the findings. The timing allowed for the Coalition's recently gathered research and data in support of girls' schools to become part of the national conversation about gender issues, which was going full tilt.

From its founding, NCGS actively sought to provide its members with valuable professional development experiences, particularly in the areas of math and science. Driven by the finding in the CGBS study that many parents perceived girls' schools to be weak in math and science, Ann Pollina at Westover School (CT) who was Dean of Faculty and Chair of the Math Department at the time and math teacher Louise Gould at Ethel Walker School (CT) organized a Math and Science Symposium at Wellesley College in June 1991. These educators wanted to share their best practices with the general public and believed girls' schools were an ideal setting to help girls succeed and close the gender gap in STEM fields. The first three of many NCGS publications flowed from the successful Symposium: The Executive Summary, Task Force Reports, and The Complete Proceedings. NCGS received extensive media coverage from the release of these publications. Following the success of the first Symposium, NCGS hosted a Girls in the Physical Sciences Symposium in partnership with the Dudley Wright Center at Tufts University in Boston in 1993 and then a Girls and Technology Conference at Wellesley in 1995. NCGS received a grant from the National Science Foundation to create three publications highlighting the sessions and best practices exchanged at the 1995 conference. The success of these conferences led NCGS to take the Girls and Technology Conference to San Francisco in 1997 marking the Coalition's first-ever programming on the West Coast. These professional development opportunities and the publications that flowed from them helped establish NCGS as a thought-leader on STEM education for girls.

The two remaining all-girls public schools in the country became involved with NCGS in its first year, and in January 1993, affiliate membership was established for international girls' schools. An impressive total of 41 Canadian and Australian girls' schools immediately took advantage of this opportunity. Moulton and Ransome continued to strengthen these international connections and spoke at the 1995 Girls' School Association conference in London.

In the last half of the 1990s, 16 states offered new all-girls classes and 32 new all-girl schools were founded in cities coast to coast.

As the Coalition approached its 10th anniversary, girls' schools continued to experience growth and strength. Enrollment at girls' schools was up nearly 40% since 1991, and nearly 70% of NCGS member schools were at full capacity. NCGS continued to expand its membership, advocate for girl-centered education in the media, and provide girls' schools around the world with quality professional development and networking opportunities.

This decade also saw a renewed focus on research on girls' schools. In 1999, NCGS hired Goodman Research Group to collect and analyze data about the all-girls experience from the perspective of graduates of girls' schools as compared to female peers at coed schools. Over 4,000 graduates were surveyed, and the responses affirmed the benefits of girls' schools. The findings helped shape marketing and public relations materials in the early 2000s. In March 2009, Dr. Linda Sax at UCLA published her research, Women Graduates of Single-Sex and Coeducational High Schools: Differences in their Characteristics and the Transition to College, which was commissioned by NCGS. The report documented the statistically significant edge girls' school graduates have over their coed peers in many areas including self-confidence, life goals, STEM interest, and career orientation.

NCGS continued to convene regional and national professional development opportunities for member schools. In 1999, the Board of Trustees identified financial literacy as a key area of programming for NCGS. The Board saw this topic as critical for gender equality in the 21st century, so NCGS created a series of programs to address financial literacy and empowerment for girls. In 2000, NCGS hosted the Women, Girls, and Money Conference in Boston. The success of the conference led to a series of publications highlighting research on the financial gender gap, tips for parents on raising financially savvy daughters, and best practices for incorporating financial literacy into the curriculum at schools. NCGS expanded the program by hosting a series of regional financial literacy seminars across the country. These, along with the financial literacy initiatives at individual member schools, helped attract extensive media attention, including articles in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, and The San Francisco Chronicle, and a television interview on ABC News.

NCGS partnered with the Girls' Schools Association to host an international conference in London in 2006, and "Global Citizenship" was the theme of the Coalition's 2007 annual conference. Each year NCGS invited student representatives from around the world to participate in a forum and discussion during the annual conference, demonstrating its commitment to expanding global networks and opportunities for girls.

Ransome and Moulton retired successively in 2008 and 2009, and the Board of Trustees faced the challenge of leading the organization through its first significant leadership transition.

Over the course of a three-year transition that included the executive leadership of Susanne Beck (2009-2011) followed by the interim leadership of Burch Ford, Former NCGS Board Chair (2000-2003) and retired Head of Miss Porter's School, as President (3/2011-7/2012) and Nancy Mugele as Interim Executive Director (7/2011-6/2012), the Coalition began to set its course for the future. During this time, NCGS expanded its Board to include heads of girls' public and international schools. The Board also underwent a strategic review and planning process to create a vision statement and re-craft the original NCGS mission, which was extended from awareness to advocacy. The first National Conference on Girls' Education in February 2012 in Washington, DC, a joint undertaking by NCGS and YWLN, affirmed the Coalition's position at the forefront of thought leadership on girls' education.

After an extensive search, the NCGS Board of Trustees announced the selection of Megan Murphy as the next Executive Director beginning July 1, 2012. Megan was charged with the ongoing implementation of the NCGS 2013 Strategic Way Forward goals: to establish NCGS and its member schools as thought-leaders in educating girls, to build a financially robust model for fulfilling the NCGS mission, and to deepen relationships and collaboration with member schools in order to engage, inspire, and sustain membership.

ICGS offers professional development for educators of girls, hosting regional, national, international, and online conferences and forums.

ICGS Today

Since 2015, the Coalition's Board has held in-depth discussions and assembled various task forces on a wide variety of opportunities and challenges facing girls’ schools. The first-ever Global Forum on Girls' Education, was held in New York City in February 2016. The Forum hosted nearly 2,000 delegates at this ground-breaking conference, in partnership with 13 preeminent educational organizations from around the world, including the UK, Australia, Canada, South Africa, and The Philippines.. Gloria Steinem and Arianna Huffington were among the keynote speakers.

The Global Forum on Girls' Education II was held in Washington, DC in June 2018, which included keynote appearances from Billie Jean King, Azar Nafisi, Halla Tómasdóttir, Sylvia Acevedo, and Lieutenant Colonel Lucy Giles, Gail Kelly.

The Global Forum on Girls’ Education III was held in Boston in June 2022, and included keynote appearances from Paula A. Johnson, Leymah Gbowee, Shabana Basij-Rasikh, Lisa Damour, Antigone Davis, Ziauddun Yousafzai, and Dr. Amineh Hoti.

At the Global Forum III, the Coalition officially replaced “National” with “International” in its name in order to be more inclusionary and represent its current membership, programs, and future.