Separating Learning by Gender

      This news story posted this morning tells the story of a school in Virginia that decided to create a middle-school program that separates the students into classrooms separated by gender. The program has existed for three years and test score results have allegedly improved. Based on your own experiences, do you think you would learn better in a co-ed or gender separated environment?
     I attend a co-ed, public school, and I am comfortable in a co-ed environment. I had the option of going to a private, all-girls school nearby, but I chose not to. I feel that it's important to learn in a co-ed school because life is a 'co-ed' experience- there's no state or planet that has all women or all men.
     However, one of the issues brought up when discussing co-ed programs is gender stereotyping. Some people argue that teaching boys and girls together teaches them stereotypes, and others argue that teaching them separately is teaching them with a stereotype. What do you think?
     I have the opportunity to fence on my school's co-ed fencing team, and that has actually helped me to view gender stereotypes differently. To put it bluntly, guy or girl, I can beat you. Or come very close. However, I wonder, if I had taken fencing classes with only girls, would I see stereotyping (or the sport) differently?
     Another thing to consider is learning style; there is scientific evidence that boys and girls use their brains differently, but does it make so much difference that learning in separated gender schools should be more common.
      Also, if I understand correctly, when our parents and grandparents were our age, most private schools were either all boy or all girl schools, yet over the past 30 or 40 years, many of those private schools have become co-ed. Why was this decision made, and why is this Virginia district trying to reverse it?