Enrollment shifts between public and private schools 2006-2010

Private vs. Public Schools

In the first quarter of 2010, the U.S. Department of Education reported that there has been a big shift in enrolment from public to private schools. This shift occurred at all levels, from pre-K to middle school until high school. In fact, the Department further reported that this shift has been happening in the past years, as early as 2006. From 2006-2010, private school enrolment fell to almost 3%, with the biggest shift in enrollees in pre-K to middle school, at about 4%. Public school enrolment at these levels, meanwhile, increased to 3%. At the high school level, this shift is more pronounced as enrolment in both public and private schools fell to 2.35%, with public high schools getting the lowest enrolment rate at 2.5% (private school, 0.5%).

The observed shifts in enrolment and low enrolment rates in private schools demonstrate the economic disparity between students who attend public and private schools. This shift has also reflected the current state of economy of the country, wherein public schools are now more preferred than private schools because it is subsidized and allows families to continue providing education for their children in the midst of an economic crisis.

The economic profile of public and private schools, including the socio-economic status of the families of children who attend them, is just one of the many differences that characterize educational institutions, especially those that are subsidized by the government and privately-owned. The following discussion further looks into the differences and similarities between public and private schools. The analysis provided herein will highlight the importance of each type of institution, with emphasis on how each responds to different, specific socio-economic groups, but ultimately, each provides quality education using their own methods and system. The comparative analysis between public and private schools will focus on three important factors relevant to quality education: student profile, quality of teacher performance, and student performance.

Student profile

More often than not, students who attend public or private schools are dependent on their parents' choices. Thus, students' profiles are also dependent on their family background or characteristics. Inevitably, by also looking into parents' school choices, students' profiles are not only discovered, but also perceived strengths and weaknesses of public and private schools, from the parents' perspective or point-of-view.

In a study by Goldring (2008), it was determined that students with parents whose background come from the higher income bracket and have attained higher educational attainment "place a higher value" on education and would therefore tend to choose private schools for their children. Another interesting finding is how school choice is also related to one's religious affiliation. In the same study, the author found out that students whose families have a Catholic or Christian background tend to send their children to private schools instead of public schools (211).

Students who attend public schools, meanwhile, tend to have family backgrounds representing the marginalized groups in the society. This includes families whose incomes are from lower middle to lower income brackets and parents who did not have not achieved higher education.

Race and ethnicity are also factors to be considered in parents' preference for public or private schools for their children. Since race and ethnicity are also related to socio-economic status and educational attainment, and white Americans tend to be characterized as having higher incomes and educational attainment, they are a group who are most likely to prefer and choose private schools. Conversely, ethnic groups and races who have been almost always associated with mid- to lower income brackets (such as Hispanic/Latin American families and to a certain degree, black/African-Americans) tend to choose public schools.

However, it was strongly established that despite racial and ethnic differences, students whose family's religious affiliation is Catholic or Christian are most likely to attend private schools than public schools (212).

But it should be noted that student profile as discussed in Goldring's study is dependent on their parents' choices and preferences (which could be argued as almost always the case, especially for students at the pre-K to middle school levels). These profiles of students' family background who attend public and private schools demonstrate that school choice is a combination of parents' values towards education and their socio-economic backgrounds and capabilities.

Students' academic performance

In a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education, it was determined that at the middle school level, school type has no bearing on students' academic performance. This report took into consideration school characteristics such as "teacher experience, school location and school size" to be not significantly related to students' performance in school, both private and public (NAEP, 2006:iv). However, not taking into account these characteristics, or removing these school characteristics as variables in the study, it was determined that private school students performed better in reading and mathematics subjects/courses than public school students (NAEP, 2006 & Mendez, 2005). (This finding is still relevant only to middle school level students). Although to a certain extent this provides empirical evidence about the quality of education provided in private schools, the report emphasized the importance of taking these findings in the context of the study, specifically, the kind of data and method used for the study. The report cautions its readers and end-users to consider that data used for the analyses as obtained using "observational" methods rather than experimental, "so the estimated effects should not be interpreted in terms of causal relationships" (v).

Conclusion

This analysis on the similarities and differences between private and public schools demonstrate that among the variables studies, students' profiles and teaching quality are the only variables found to be significantly contributing to their differences and similarities, respectively. Students' academic performance is still a variable that is not strongly established to be significantly influenced by school type.