That's a link to a study recently completed by the National Center for Education Statistics, a research section of the U.S. Department of Education. The study compared the ability in math and reading of 4th and 8th grade students in public schools to private schools. We all know the conventional wisdom that private schools score better in general. But this study was done to look at the ability to educate when on a level playing field; i.e., to compare public school apples with private school apples, to look at the performance of kids of similar ethnic background, income level, etc.
The results were released by the federal government with no comment, on a Friday afternoon, in an attempt to guarantee it would get no news coverage.
Wanna guess what the results showed? (hint, I wasn't surprised at the results)
No discernable difference in student achievement, when the results are analyzed to account for race, income and social background!! Except the fundamental christian private schools which showed a significantly lower level of achievement in math than public schools. So guess what?! Our public schools aren't as bad as the media keeps touting, or as believed by conventional wisdom!! They are doing a fine job educating our students! What have I been saying for so long about this subject?
But guess which federal government is apparently not too happy with the results? I suppose it didn't prove what they wanted it to prove, so they are sweeping the results under the carpet.
Why, you ask, would our beloved government not be happy to show that our good old public schools are just as good or better than Fancypants Private Academy? According to the opinion piece in our local paper the secretary of education recently announced a school voucher program (one hundred million dollars, by the way). And this program to shuttle taxpayer money to private schools seems a little silly now, doesn't it, since the government's own study shows there is no advantage to sending kids to Fancypants Academy?
OK, ok, before anyone gets upset with me, let me confess. "Fancypants Academy" is just my way of being a little silly. We all make good and thoughtful choices for our kids, and I've got several friends who are sending their children to private schools for very valid and good reasons. So please take my fancypants as it is meant - in a fun spirit. My real beef is with the constant dissing on public schools by the governemnt, by the media, by well-meaning everyday folks, when they really don't deserve it.
1 comment:
I've long believed this, and it's nice to be validated (even if the gov't doesn't want to tout the results).
Man, I wish I could forward this to some friends who are regulary dissing my choice to send my kids to public school without losing those friendships altogether.
The most blatant comment was when I was talking about the shift that happens when kids are about 8-9 and around 3rd grade (how wonderful it was to have deeper conversations with my son about what he was reading). How reading goes from "just" reading to reading to truly learn from reading. When the kids start to be able to infer, discern, and draw conclusions based on what they are reading. My friend made the comment, snidely, "Yeah, maybe for the public school educational model."
Aargh. I was stunned. One of those can't win moments,I decided, so I forced myself to let it go. She had only a six year old at the time and so hadn't experienced that developmental shift herself. But, of course, since her little darling was going to private school, he was going to be more advanced, better, etc.
Post a Comment