Giving Compass' Take:

• The Hechinger Reports talks about how female-only trade classes — such as auto repair — are become more prevalent, following the trend of workforce preparation, while also pushing back against gender stereotypes.

• This piece also mentions how Title IX may be an obstacle to single-gender classes. But the larger point is: How can we create more equality in education for girls and women in general?

• Here's more on why the new model in education Is vocational, skills based and blended.

High school auto mechanics teacher Kristina Carlevatti knows what it’s like to be one of just a few females in a class filled with males. That was her frequent experience while earning a degree in technical and trade education at the State University of New York at Oswego.

“There was the sense that you were being judged, like you didn’t know what you were doing, so the guys might try to help you or hit on you,” she said.

Carlevatti has been teaching auto repair for six years now at Myers Park High School in Charlotte, North Carolina, where a booming automotive industry has produced plenty of jobs. Boys dominated the shop courses until Carlevatti started an all-girls Intro to Auto class this past school year.

When only coed trade classes were offered at the school, Carlevatti would see one or two girls at most. But Intro to Auto filled up quickly, drawing 16 girls.

Girls-only trade classes like Carlevatti’s are gaining traction, and the timing is right. A shortage of skilled workers is driving up wages in the trades, especially in traditionally male-dominated professions such as auto repair, construction and welding. (Nationwide, only 2 percent of auto mechanics, 3 percent of construction workers and 4.5 percent of welders are women, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.) High schools like Myers Park have found that when they offer female-only trade courses, the girls sign up.

Read the full article about girls-only trade classes by Brenda Iasevoli at The Hechinger Report.