WASHINGTON

The Bush administration is giving public schools wider latitude to teach boys and girls separately in what is considered the biggest change to coed classrooms in more than three decades.

After a two-year wait, the Education Department issued final rules Tuesday detailing how it will enforce the Title IX landmark anti-discrimination law. Under the change taking effect Nov. 24, local school leaders will have discretion to create same-sex classes for subjects such as math, a grade level or even an entire school.

“Some students may learn better in single-sex education environments,” said Education Secretary Margaret Spellings. “These final regulations permit communities to establish single-sex schools and classes as another means of meeting the needs of students.”

“Every child should receive a high quality education in America and every school and district deserves the tools to provide it,” she said.

Education officials initially proposed the rules in early 2004, pointing in part to some U.S. research suggesting better student achievement and fewer discipline problems in single-sex classes including math and foreign languages.

After receiving 5,600 public comments, education officials said they were moving forward with the plan with some wording tweaks and assurances from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales that it was legally sound.

Critics who compare the plan to “separate but equal” segregation-era classrooms have not been so sure.

The National Organization for Women says it creates the risk of breeding second-class citizens. The American Association of University Women has said it would “throw out the most basic legal standards prohibiting sex discrimination in education.”

A school board in southeastern Louisiana dropped plans last month to segregate two middle schools by sex after meeting with a federal judge and attorneys for the American Civil Liberties Union, which expressed concerns about the plan.