Public Vs. Private Schools

The Center for Education Policy did a special study based on analysis of the National Educational Longitudinal Study. They found that there is no real difference between the academic performance given by public and private school students from the same low-income bracket and background, suggesting that family involvement has more of an impact than the school setting.

http://www.cep-dc.org/document/docWindow.cfm?fuseaction=document.viewDocument&documentid=226&documentFormatId=3665

I guess everything that Craig said was correct. However the fact remains that the playing field (financially) isn't even. Suburban/Private schools receive more money to spend on each student versus public schools. I wonder what percentage of private school students are from low income homes? I would assume that these students were some of if not the top performing students in a public school at one time and may have received a scholarship to attend the private school.

Summary of CEP Findings

• Low-income students attending public high schools performed just as well academically as low-income students attending private high schools.
• Neither private school students nor public school students with similar background characteristics were more likely to attend college.
• Young adults at age 26 who attended private school are no more likely to be engaged in civic activities than young adults who attended a public school.
• Private school graduates aren't any more satisfied with the jobs they hold at age 26 than are public school graduates.

Contrary to popular belief, we can find no evidence that private schools actually increase student performance,' stated Jack Jennings, the president and CEO of CEP. 'Instead, it appears that private schools simply have higher percentages of students who would perform well in any environment based on their previous performance and background.'