We have long been under the pre conception that private schools are better. But is this totally accurate? Some assume that private schools offer superior everything, justifying their tuition costs. Others contend that public schools provide more real-life experiences or, in some cases, more-developed specialty programs in athletics or science. Yet for twenty-five years, researchers have largely agreed that private school students fare better academically than do their public school counterparts. Now, studies are challenging decades of research on the advantages of private schools, leading us to the ultimate question: Are Private Schools Really Better Than Public Schools? Can we prove or disprove this scientifically?
We already know that scores for students in private schools tend to be higher. But is that because they’re from more affluent families…or is that because the schools are doing better? If you go back for a generation the research suggests that there is a private school effect, that even when you control for background factors, private schools seem to be more effective, particularly for certain populations, at boosting their achievement. But, let’s see if this is entirely true.
In a well-designed study by the Center on Education Policy, it suggests vouchers for private schools are unnecessary because — once you control for socioeconomic status — students at private 
schools aren’t performing any better than those at public schools. The study says that it is “the kinds of economic and resource advantages their parents can give [students]” — as well as the level of parental involvement in their kids’ education —that determines success or failure in high school. The problem isn’t necessarily in the schools; it’s with social inequality.
I was skeptical to learn that students attending traditional, district-run public schools might be outperforming their peers in charter schools and private schools because it is unheard of. Yet, that is the bold claim at the heart of Christopher and Sarah Lubienski’s new book, The Public School Advantage. Private school students do, in fact, score better on tests, but the authors wanted to figure out if this advantage is a genuine marker of superior education in private schools or simply an artifact of the more privileged backgrounds of the students who attend them.
To answer this, the Lubienskis decided to analyze math achievement scores. Math, they explain, is an especially good indicator of school effectiveness because it is a subject “learned primarily in school, as compared with other subjects, such as reading, which tend to be more heavily influenced by students’ experiences at home.” The authors examined two main datasets—a longitudinal study of more than 20,000 students who started kindergarten in the fall of 1998; and the 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress, which surveyed more than 300,000 fourth and eighth graders.
Using sophisticated analytical tools, the authors concluded that the private-school effect is a myth. After accounting for socioeconomic status, race, and other demographic differences among students, the researchers found that public school math achievement equaled or outstripped math achievement at every type of private school in grades 4 and 8 on NAEP. The advantage was as large as 12 score points on a scale of 0 to 500 (or more than one full grade level) when the authors compared public school students with demographically similar 4th graders in conservative Christian schools.
On the basis of the data they analyzed, the Lubienskis offer two possible explanations for their findings. First, public school teachers are more likely to be certified, meaning they are required to continue to take professional-development courses that expose them to the latest research on teaching math. Second, perhaps as a result of that professional development, their instructional approaches more closely align with recent studies suggesting that test results improve when students know how to reason and communicate mathematical concepts rather than merely learning to add, subtract, multiply, and divide. However, I found these claims to be more observational rather than a direct cause of their scientific findings.
The study was definitely conducted well with a large sample size and had good logic on why they chose math, however I still have a few concerns and am not convinced that the private-school effect is 100% a myth. For one, the study does not tell us how long they are tracking the kindergartners for in the longitudinal study. And frankly, I don’t know how helpful elementary school students scores will be, considering they are in the early stages of learning and constantly make mistakes. I think it would be more beneficial to focus on high school students scores, SAT/ACT scores and GPA’s. Instead of basing their conclusions on national exams, that are taken on merely one day, GPA’s reflect the grades of a student over one or more years, and would therefore be more accurate.
As you can see, the answer to the question on private vs. public schools is not black and white. Even though private schools are known to score better than public school students, it may not be thanks to the school; it can be from their backgrounds, family life, or other factors. While the study makes a good point that public schools could possibly be scoring better than private schools, that does not mean they’re superior. What I have concluded is that neither are superior. Scores vary by students and no matter which school you go to, your success is ultimately up to you.
I loved your blog! It was very well executed all of your information. Although I feel like we can’t even compare private and public schools because it is not a fair comparision. In this article even states that it is better to have money. The bottom line is, if you have more money and are willing to pay for education for your children, you are going to get better education. People wouldn’t pay for private school if they weren’t getting their moneys worth, so private schools need to make sure they have the best faculty and school they can possibly have so the parents know paying thousands of dollars for schooling a year is worth it. Yes some public schools are great, even better then some privates. But public schools are free, and often don’t have the same amount of money as private schools. which means not having the newest software and at times having to cut down their staff. Yes there are exceptions to this, but overall I don’t think there should be a comparison between private and public schools.
These results from the studies are very interesting. It is always refreshing to find science that is able to debunk a classic myth. I think something Christopher and Sarah Lubienski’s study does not account for is hard work. Hard work may be a 3rd confounding variable that increases achievement scores, while still being related to the school attended. What I mean is that if you are in private-school, you may feel the need to work harder in class because you are “privileged” and therefore must live up to those expectations. This opposes the viewpoint that someone in public school might have when they say, “I’m required to be here”. This could affect in class performance, making math just as susceptible to being a biased measure. With this same line of thought, I am not sure I agree with you that GPA is a plausible measure as to which education is superior. It is known that GPA is a reflection of one’s hard work and their learning environment (the effectiveness of the teaching in the classroom). GPA does not separate these variables so hard work would still be a confounding variable. Also, after hearing about the Center of Education Policy study that showed parent involvement having an effect on achievement, I researched this claim. I found a meta-analysis involving 77 studies and over 300,00 students. This analysis showed that parents involved in their child’s education has between .5 and .6 of a standard deviation advantage in academic achievement. At the end of your post you conclude that maybe neither school has an advantage and that your academic achievement is all up to you. While this seems logical, your parents may have a role in your academic achievement as well.
In my area where i grew up, we had about the same amount of private schools and public schools. Growing up i had always thought that they were superior because they had to pay so much money to attend their school so they HAD to be getting a better education than i was getting. As i got older i started to realize that i was just as smart as them and their wasn’t much of a difference in our education, which this blog post supports very well. However, i did notice that private schools were always superior in the aspect of sports. I found this article that has great statistics and says that private schools can receive much more funding for their sports, giving their teams more resources to have a leg up on public schools.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/113694-high-school-sports-private-vs-public
This is a really interesting blog post! I went to a public school and often students would transfer because they thought they would get a leg up academically and athletically. It baffled me because I thought I was receiving just as good of an education and given the same chances. This blog post definitely sheds light on the subject!
I went to a public school in California, and although my school had a much lower overall GPA and college entry than the surrounding private schools, the honors and AP students at our school who pushed themselves wound up with the similar grades and in many of the same schools as the kids at the top of the private schools. It seems like the main difference between the two is that private schools push all of their students to succeed while at public school you have to push yourself.
I went to a private, Catholic school in New York City. In NYC, many public schools are just as good as private schools; many are better. It depends on the school itself, not really on whether it is private or public. This is an article on whether to send your child to private or public schools in New York. What is interesting is that it states that a lot of the parents who send their children to private schools send them because they think if they pay more in the end it will pay-off for their child. It also states that private schools do have advantages like smaller class sizes, better teacher-student ratio, and will always have art, music, and extra curricular programs because they will never be cut because of budget. I guess this will be an ongoing battle…
This is a really interesting posting, since I wondered which is better, public schools or private schools, when I chose colleges. I do agree these statements, students who attend into private schools have a better backgrounds in general. And this may be the reason they have a better grades in schools, because their relatively successful parents pay more attention on children’s education. After these students graduate from colleges, they are probably have a better job, since they got high grades in schools, plus their parents will help them to reach goals. However, these hypothesis are merely social reasons, there is no convincing statements to claim the quality of education in public schools is worse than that of in private schools.
This is a vey interesting blog post, as it is something I wondered myself. As someone who went to public school, I would hear my private school friends talk about their work load and classes and would feel as if I was at a disadvantage when it came to preparing for college. I found the studies you researched very interesting. I believe that a third variable for a reason private schools are more likely to succeed more than public schools is the simple fact that they are paying to be there, and therefore are more likely to work harder for the money they are paying. An interesting study would be to track students through college and see who is more prepared for college courses based off their high school education. Thanks for the post!!
Back when I lived in Ohio, I attended a private, Catholic school. I am not Catholic, but my parents decided it was the best option to attend this school because the public schools in my hometown of Campbell, Ohio were lacking, partly because Campbell was a depressed steel town. I think private school enrollment can be hugely influenced by the standard of the public schools in the area from which students would naturally attend. Additionally, I did agree with the part in your blog concerning how a tuition fee waiver destroys the accuracy of the testing statistics because it allowed for students who were in a different socioeconomic sector to lump their grades in with the other privileged students.