School Choice & Charters Report Roundup

Public vs. Private Study Compares Outcomes for Urban Students

October 16, 2007 1 min read
  • Save to favorites
  • Print

Disadvantaged students from urban areas show about the same results in academic achievement and other education-related outcomes regardless of whether they attended a public or private school, a study released last week concludes.

Using longitudinal data, the study focused on a sample of 1,003 students with similar backgrounds in academic achievement before entering high school, in family socioeconomic status, and on various indicators of parental involvement in school.

The report says it contradicts previous findings from some other researchers, who found a positive private school effect for disadvantaged students, as well as assumptions often made by policymakers.

“Once the full scope of the family is taken into account, cultural capital as well as economic capital, private school effects disappear,” says the report, published by the Center on Education Policy, a Washington-based research and advocacy organization that has been sharply critical of publicly funded programs to provide private school tuition vouchers.

Critics questioned elements of the study. For one, they noted that it considered only students who took a 12th grade exam.

“Dropout rates can be extraordinarily high” in many urban public schools, said Joe McTighe, the executive director of the Council for American Private Education, a group based in Germantown, Md., that supports and promotes private schools. “The research has already skewed the results.”

The study, conducted by researcher Harold H. Wenglinksy of Columbia University, relied on data from a nationally representative database of students and schools—the National Educational Longitudinal Study of 1988-2000.

The report notes two exceptions to its main findings. First, students who attended independent private high schools had higher SAT scores than the public school students. Second, students who attended some Roman Catholic schools run by religious orders, such as the Jesuits, instead of diocesan schools, saw some higher achievement than the public school students.

A version of this article appeared in the October 17, 2007 edition of Education Week

Events

Jobs Virtual Career Fair for Teachers and K-12 Staff
Find teaching jobs and other jobs in K-12 education at the EdWeek Top School Jobs virtual career fair.
Ed-Tech Policy Webinar Artificial Intelligence in Practice: Building a Roadmap for AI Use in Schools
AI in education: game-changer or classroom chaos? Join our webinar & learn how to navigate this evolving tech responsibly.
Education Webinar Developing and Executing Impactful Research Campaigns to Fuel Your Ed Marketing Strategy 
Develop impactful research campaigns to fuel your marketing. Join the EdWeek Research Center for a webinar with actionable take-aways for companies who sell to K-12 districts.

EdWeek Top School Jobs

Teacher Jobs
Search over ten thousand teaching jobs nationwide — elementary, middle, high school and more.
View Jobs
Principal Jobs
Find hundreds of jobs for principals, assistant principals, and other school leadership roles.
View Jobs
Administrator Jobs
Over a thousand district-level jobs: superintendents, directors, more.
View Jobs
Support Staff Jobs
Search thousands of jobs, from paraprofessionals to counselors and more.
View Jobs

Read Next

School Choice & Charters Tracker Which States Have Private School Choice?
Education savings accounts, voucher, and tax-credit scholarships are growing. This tracker keeps tabs on them so you don't have to.
School Choice & Charters Opinion What's the State of Charter Schools Today?
Even though there's momentum behind the charter school movement, charters face many of the same challenges as traditional public schools.
10 min read
Image shows a multi-tailed arrow hitting the bullseye of a target.
DigitalVision Vectors/Getty
School Choice & Charters As Private School Choice Grows, Critics Push for More Guardrails
Calls are growing for more scrutiny over where state funds for private school choice go and how students are faring in the classroom.
7 min read
Illustration of completed tasks, accomplishment, finished checklist, achievement or project progression concept. Person holding pencil tick all completed task checkbox.
Nuthawut Somsuk/iStock/Getty
School Choice & Charters How a District Hopes to Save an ESSER-Funded Program
As a one-time infusion of federal funding expires, districts are searching for creative ways to keep programs they funded with it running.
6 min read
Chicago charter school teacher Angela McByrd works on her laptop to teach remotely from her home in Chicago, Sept. 24, 2020.
Chicago charter school teacher Angela McByrd works on her laptop to teach remotely from her home in Chicago, Sept. 24, 2020. In Montana, a district hopes to save a virtual instruction program by converting it into a charter school.
Nam Y. Huh/AP