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Dayton Daily News education reporter Scott Elliott writes about schools, kids, teaching and learning.
Home > Blogs > Get on the Bus > Archives > 2006 > July > 15 > Entry
Are private schools really better?
Here’s a lesson in education statistics and how assumptions may not always add up.
At first blush, the results of the National Assessment of Education Progress — a standardized test given nationally at fourth and eighth grade sometimes called “The Nation’s Report Card” — seem to affirm a commonly-held belief, that private schools produce better academic results than public schools.
Here are there results of public school average test scores compared to private from NAEP:
4th grade reading: Private schools scored 14.7 points higher
4th grade math: Private schools scored 7.8 points higher
8th grade reading: Private schools scored 18.1 points higher
8th grade math: Private schools scored 12.3 percent higher
All those margins are big enough to be statistically significant, the usual standard by which researchers judge one group’s out-performance of another to be reliably believable.
But in a study by the National Center for Education statistics, researchers tried to make the comparison more apples-to-apples by controlling for outside factors that affect test scores, such as gender, ethnicity, disability, English language learner status, school size, location and the composition of the student body. Using a statistics model, they re-ran the comparisons while controlling for those factors.
Here’s what they found:
4th grade reading: No significant difference between public and private schools.
4th grade math: Public schools scored a statistically significant 4.5 points higher.
8th grade reading: Private schools scored a statistically significant 7.3 points higher
8th grade math: No significant difference between public and private schools.
Now, this is just one study using one method, but the results are quite interesting. And they challenge the conventional thinking.
Who the students are, and what kinds of homes they come from, certainly affects the test performance of students in tuition-based private schools. The question is to what degree?
At a minimum, this study suggests the big test gaps in the aggregate scores of public and private may not, by itself, necessarily mean the difference in the quality of education offered is that great.
UPDATE: The New York Times wrote about this study Saturday in a front page story that mentions the study was complete last summer but peer reviewed for a year. The story says teachers’ unions have been asking for the results for months and accurately predicted the study would be released on a Friday afternoon in the summer to gurantee minimal news coverage.
Over at the American Federation of Teachers’ blog, they trumpet the study as good news for public schools and say its results challenge the theory behind vouchers — that kids can get a better education outside of public schools.
Even if the weekend is the down part of the news cycle, there was quick reaction in the blogopshere, including Joanne Jacobs, Joe Williams and Alexander Russo.
There’s an especially good post from EdWize, a blog by the New Your City teacher’s union, that points out this study was commissioned by a Republican Bush appointee.
Permalink | Comments (6) | Categories: Private Schools
Comments
By Oldprof
July 15, 2006 11:10 PM | Link to this
[YAWN] Those of us closely familiar with education already knew that (1) no education study is conclusive (2) allow people to select students and they’ll cherry-pick the good ones. Unless, of course, we’re examining a Marva Collins-type reformer. But that’s not an indictment of private education, I’m all in favor of it—but private ed. should mean that the individual pays for it, no government funds—now that the state is going to foot the bill for private schools, it opens the door for state control, and —poof—like magic, there disappears much of the private school sector.By Ms. Cornelius
July 15, 2006 10:35 PM | Link to this
If vouchers ever become the law of the land, who thinks that private schools will not respond by ratcheting up tuition (already astonomical) in a drive to keep their exclusivity?By doug
July 15, 2006 10:03 PM | Link to this
These statistcs were interesting. I’m not sure I buy these stats though. Private schools have so many advantages when it comes to test taking. God bless private schools. It is a free country. But we cannot abandoned the urban schools. We have to marshall are resources and make them better. To follow my fight for public schools… please check out my blog at http://ohioschoolfunding.blogspot.com/ Thanks Scott for this post.By Vincent
July 15, 2006 8:39 PM | Link to this
I wouldn’t even consider putting my kids in a public school. We would hire a private teacher and home them school first. Regardless, the foundation of the childrens character is the fully on the parents shoulders. Weak character children will fail just as easily in private as they can in public, and vise versa. However the typical parent that makes the decision to put their kids in private schools are…in most cases, high achieveing individuals in the first place. Therefore, there is a better upfront chance that those same values are being instilled. Of course there are exceptions to everything, but as a rule….By Rick
July 15, 2006 1:58 PM | Link to this
Don’t get too excited yet. This could be another phony story by the blob to discredit private schools. This certainly goes against other studies I have heard about. Since the study also indicated fundamental Christian schools had a significant deficit in math, vis-a-vis public schools, my suspicion meter is working overtime.By Mary
July 15, 2006 7:53 AM | Link to this
In a national conference I attended as a parent regarding gifted students, one speaker pointed out the percentage of teachers at private schools with appropriate certification for teaching high ability students was even less than percentages in public schools. For the general student population and families, I think the big selling card on private schools is the smaller school size, smaller class size, more personal attention, some better handle on discipline, with the same social cliques. Academics for the top students and academic opportunities in general do not seem to change that much between public and private schools. When I looked into private school for one of my children, foreign language opportunities were even less than those in public school and the price tag was stupendous. We opted for college classes and let the taxpayer pick up the bill which was still less than what the taxpayer pays for K-12. Your comparisons of public and private test scores involve aggregate scores, not value added for the individual students. That is where the focus should be. What is the impact of the education system and curriculum on individual student learning. Many top students tread water on academic growth in public and private schools. The same could probably be said for the general student population, as well.