| SEARCH OnWEAC |
|---|
Advocates of private school choice believe that private schools do a better job of educating students than the public schools. They also maintain that private schools better meet the needs of minority and disadvantaged children. In explaining the success of private schools, critics typically argue that private schools are unencumbered by bureaucracies, unions, and unreasonable state rules and regulations. Finally, choice advocates maintain that the resulting competition among and between public and private schools will improve the overall quality of American education.
The case for private school choice rests on questionable assumptions and little or no supporting data. Those who maintain that private school choice is the solution to America's educational problems should read the research literature in this area. They will find that there are few data to suggest that private school choice will solve the problems of American public education.
The Common School
In the debate about the merits of private school choice we must not forget that American public education is based on the concept of the common school. This important idea, which is credited primarily to Horace Mann and others in the 1830's, viewed public education as the fundamental way to prepare children from diverse ethnic, religious, and class backgrounds to live as responsible citizens in a democracy. Because public education was perceived as a public "good," it was to be supported by taxes from all members of the community, controlled by elected or appointed officials who were responsible to the entire community, and offer a curriculum which was nonsectarian.
Public schools in the United States have provided children with a set of experiences which benefit the country as a whole. As Carnoy notes, "A public school in Iowa creates approximately the same social experience for its pupils as a school in Massachusetts. This experience . . . has in the past been fairly successful in conveying a set of common values to many generations of young children. It is probably the only unifying and democratizing process that young people undergo in a highly diversified society with no compulsory military service" (p. 167).
Critics remind us that private school choice will further segregate the United States along the lines of class, race, religion, and ethnicity. Greater segregation by religion is especially likely because 82% of private schools in the United States are religious schools, and 86% of private school students are enrolled in religious schools.
What does the research show about private school superiority and the merits of private school choice?
Public and Private School Achievement Levels
Many Americans believe that private school students receive an education which is superior to that of students who attend the public schools. However, the evidence for private school superiority is very weak. Research conducted in 1980, 1982, and 1984 provided a substantial data base for comparing the achievement levels of public and private school students. Using these data, early researchers first concluded that private schools were superior in promoting student achievement (Coleman, Hoffer, and Kilgore, 1982).
Subsequent research, however, consistently has shown that these differences are insignificant and primarily attributable to factors such as differences in student backgrounds (Alexander and Pallis, 1985; Levin, 1990; and Meyer, 1989).
Others also have concluded that the discrepancies in achievement levels between public and private school students have almost nothing to do with the structure of the schools and are primarily a function of the differences in students' backgrounds and family characteristics. For example, data collected by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) on a national sample of 12th grade students show that the parents of private school students tend to have much higher levels of formal education than do public school parents. This is especially important because the strongest predictor of student academic success is family structure, including parents' levels of education and family size (Grissmer, 1994).
In a 1993 article on educational choice, Lee investigated the implications of course selection practices on student achievement. She reports that students who take an academic track in the public schools tend to achieve at higher levels than students who select a non-academic set of courses. She also notes that minority students and students from poorer families are less likely to take demanding academic courses.
Lee suggests that if schools required all students to take a core curriculum, while also eliminating or minimizing tracking (as is done in most private schools), this would improve the overall achievement levels of all public school students. It also would help to minimize the disparate levels in achievement found among groups of students.
The Selection Practices of Private Schools
Private schools do not accept all students who wish to attend. The evidence regarding the selection practices of private schools is well documented. In 1982, Coleman, Hoffer, and Kilgore reported that the screening criteria typically include personal interviews, grades, and analysis of behavioral patterns.
Likewise, research by Corwin (1993) found that nearly all Catholic schools require test scores for admission, in addition to strong academic records (61% of sampled schools), recommendations of elementary school principals (73%), and successful completion of the previous school year (98%). About one-half require interviews with parents and students.
Data collected by the U.S. Department of Education (February, 1991) show that private schools tend to educate children from wealthier families. Whereas 31% of public school students have family incomes of less than $15,000, approximately 12% of religious school students and 10% of non-religious private school students have family incomes this low.
As for the students served, Corwin notes that only a minority of Catholic schools provide bilingual services (9%), programs for the handicapped (12%), or vocational/technical programs (14%). Corwin also points out that even though Catholic schools tend to enroll a high percent of minority students, these are students who go through the screening criteria noted above.
These practices stand in sharp contrast to America's public schools which are required to educate all students in a community, regardless of personal or family characteristics.
Private School Choice as a Solution
The case for private school choice rests on several unexamined assumptions, including the belief that students will achieve at higher levels, that private schools will participate extensively in a choice program, that entrepreneurs will rush in to create new, quality schools, and that the resulting "competition" will benefit public schools. These assumptions are discussed below.
Student Achievement: There is scant research regarding the effect of choice on student achievement. However, analysis of test data from the Milwaukee choice program showed that the performance of voucher children was about equal to the students who remained in the Milwaukee public schools (Witte, 1991 and 1992). This finding should not be unexpected because research shows that the differences in achievement between public and private school students are primarily a function of family characteristics and that the family and social circumstances of the Milwaukee choice and Milwaukee public school children are essentially the same.
Populations Served: There also is evidence to suggest that the majority of existing private schools would be unwilling or unable to participate in a choice program. A recent study of 1,000 private schools in California by Dianda and Corwin (1992) found that the majority would not accept significantly more students under a voucher program. In fact, 25% indicated they would not participate at all, whereas 70% indicated they would expand their enrollment by no more than 15%.
The Dianda and Corwin research suggests that a voucher program would benefit only a small percent of students. Furthermore, as Lee (1993) argues, academically and socially disadvantaged students and their families are less likely to seek out, or have access to, information about the consequences of their choices (of either schools or courses). The most likely consequence of a voucher program, Lee concludes, will be an increase in the inequitable distribution of educational outcomes among diverse social and racial groups (p. 125).
In other words, middle and upper class parents will most likely be the main beneficiaries of a voucher program.
Entrepreneurs:Advocates of choice argue that entrepreneurs will create new schools of high quality to meet the needs of parents and students. The reality may be few entrepreneurs, low quality, and many failures, the latter a consequence of the financial instability associated with any new enterprise, along with the absence of a reputation for competence and reliability. As a result of the track records of the Edison Project and Education Alternatives, Inc., one should be wary of those who believe that private school entrepreneurs are the solution to the low achievement levels of some students.
Further, those who believe that large numbers of entrepreneurs will emerge assume that there are surplus dollars in the public schools which can be turned into profits. In addition, the case for a voucher program rests on the assumption that the public is willing to have a significant portion of its tax revenues, which have been secured for basic school programs, turned into profits for a few.
Effects of Choice on Private Schools:There also are those who remind us that a system of private school vouchers would erode the advantages that private schools currently have, including selective admission policies, a smaller bureaucracy, and lower salaries. For example, Corwin (1993) concludes that the costs of private schools would soon rise under a voucher program because private schools would be pressured to educate all children, including those with special needs. Once this happens, they will face the same problems encountered by the typical public school. Perhaps this is why many representatives of mainline church schools have expressed concern about the potential impact of a voucher system on their curricula and program.
Competition: Finally, one should be leery of the assertion that competition from private schools will benefit public education. Carnoy (1993) concludes that this conviction is based on the dubious premise that a little competition from a few private schools will reform the vast enterprise of public education.
Money Magazine's Study of Public and Private Schools
The popular media has also begun to investigate the issue of private school superiority. The October, 1994 issue of Money Magazine (Topolnicki) reached some important conclusions in its empirical study of public and private schools:
"Forget the myth that private schools are the best. Our survey shows many public schools are every bit as good--if not better" (p. 98).
Students who attend the best public schools outperform most private school students. Furthermore, the level of student achievement is relatively similar at advantaged public and elite prep schools (p. 100).
The average public school teacher has stronger academic qualifications than the average private school teacher (p. 100). (Half of all public school teachers hold advanced degrees, compared with only a third of private school instructors).
The best public schools offer a more challenging curriculum than most private schools (p. 100).
Public school class sizes are no larger than in most private schools and are smaller than in most Catholic schools (p. 100).
"The best news to come out of Money's survey of public and private schools across America was that by and large, public schools are not lacking in experienced topnotch teachers, challenging courses or an environment that is conducive to learning. What many public schools are lacking is a student body brimming with kids eager to take advantage of what the school has to offer" (p. 112).
"Shocked? So were we. After all, some of us, like some of you, send our children to private schools and thus pay twice for education--through high property taxes plus tuition. Indeed, roughly 30% of the kids who live in affluent public school districts came out best in our study attend private schools, vs. only 11% of all U.S. students. If you are the parent of one of those kids, here's the bottom line: You are probably wasting your hard-earned money" (p. 100).
References
Alexander, K. L. and A. M. Pallas. "School Sector and Cognitive Performance: When is a Little a Little?" Sociology of Education, (April 1985): 115-128.
Carnoy, Martin. "School Improvement: Is Privatization the Answer?" In Decentralization and School Improvement. Edited by Jane Hannaway and Martin Carnoy, San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1993.
Corwin, Ronald Private Schools and Parental Choice. Los Alamitos, CA: Southwest Regional Laboratory, 1993.
Coleman, James S., Hoffer, Thomas and Kilgore, Sally. High School Achievement. New York: Basic Books, 1982.
Dianda, R. R. and Corwin, R.G. The Private Sector considers Educational Vouchers in California. Los Alamitos, CA: Southwest Regional Laboratory, 1992.
Grissmer, David W. et al. Student Achievement and the Changing American Family. Santa Monica, CA: RAND, 1994.
Lee, Valerie E. "Educational Choice: The Stratifying Effects of Selecting Schools and Courses." Educational Policy, ( June 1993): 125-148.
Leven, H. M. "The Theory of Choice Applied to Education." In Choice and Control in American Education, Vol. III: The Practice of Choice, Decentralization, and School Restructuring, pp. 285 - 318. Edited by W. Clune and J. Witte. New York City: Falmer Press, 1990.
Meyer, Robert H. Applied versus Traditional Mathematics: New Economic Models of the contributions of High School Courses to Mathematics Proficiency. Washington, D.C.: National Assessment of Vocational Education, 1989.
Private Schools in the United States: A Statistical Profile With Comparison to Public Schools. Washington, C.E.L US Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1991.
Topolnicki, Denise M. "Why Private Schools are Rarely Worth the Money." Money Magazine, (October 1994): 98- 112.
Witte, John F., Bailey, Andrew B. and Thorn, Christopher A. Second Year Report: Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin-Madision, 1992.
Witte, John F. First Year Report: Milwaukee Parental Choice Program. Madison, Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin-Madison, 1991.
This document was prepared by the WEAC Professional Development & Training