Private versus public!

It’s a debate that rages across the playgrounds

and living rooms of America. In fact, according to a 2009 GreatSchools
and Harris Interactive poll, nearly one in four parents are currently
considering switching their child’s school either from private to public
or public to private as a result of the economy.

What’s better for your youngster? How can you compare private and
public schools when they seem so disparate? Is it like comparing apples
and oranges — two different things that can’t be fairly held to the same
standards?

As any parent who has toured both kinds of school knows, it’s not
always easy to answer these questions. Many people have a bias one
way or another. Some assume that private schools offer superior
everything, justifying their tuition costs. Others contend that public
schools provide more real-life experiences or, in some cases, more-
developed specialty programs in athletics or science.

While this primer won’t dare takes sides, it will touch on the most
fundamental differences between public and private schools — as well
as a few subtle distinctions that might make all the difference for your
child.

The bottom line

The most obvious discrepancy between public and private schools
comes down to cold, hard cash. The good news for parents is that public
schools cannot charge tuition. The bad news is that public schools are
complicated, often underfunded operations influenced by political winds
and shortfalls. Financed through federal, state, and local taxes, public
schools are part of a larger school system, which functions as a part of
the government and must follow the rules and regulations set by
politicians.

In contrast, private schools must generate their own funding, which

typically comes from a variety of sources: tuition; private grants; and
fundraising from parents, alumni, and other community members. (Ever
wonder why private schools celebrate Grandparent’s Day and public
schools don’t?) If the school is associated with a religious group, the
local branch may provide an important source of funding as well.

For parents this quickly translates into the bad news: high tuition costs
and sometimes an exhausting work calendar of parent-sponsored
fundraisers. According to the National Association of Independent
Schools, the median tuition for their member private day schools in
2008-2009 in the United States was $17,441. Tuition for boarding
schools was close to $37,017. (Of the 28,384 private schools in the
United States, about 1,050 are affiliated with the NAIS. Average tuition
for nonmember schools is substantially less: Day schools charge
$10,841 and boarding schools $23,448.)

Parochial schools are even more affordable. The National Catholic

Educational Association reports that the mean tuition for
parish elementary schools is $2,607 and $6,906 for the freshman
year of secondary school. (Thank you, Pope Benedict XVI!)

The potential benefits of private schools accrue from their

independence. Private schools do not receive tax revenues, so they do
not have to follow the same sorts of regulations and bureaucratic
processes that govern (and sometimes hinder) public schools. This
allows many private schools to be highly specialized, offering
differentiated learning, advanced curriculum, or programs geared
toward specific religious beliefs. There are exceptions to such
generalizations — charter and magnet schools are increasingly common
public schools that often have a special educational focus or theme.

The admissions game

Another obvious distinction between public and private schools results
from their respective admissions procedures. By law, public schools
must accept all children. In many cases, enrolling your child involves
little more than filling out a few forms and providing proof of your
address to the local school district office. In practice, however, getting
your child into the public school of his or her choice can be much more
complicated.

Because not all public schools have resources for helping students with
special needs, enrolling a child with a learning disability or other
disorder may entail a more complex process. Similarly, in school
districts with “school choice” policies, the procedure for finding a
public school may require that parents enter a lottery to gain admission
for their child into their top pick. Finally, at the high school level, many
districts in larger metropolitan areas offer special schools with
competitive enrollment based on students’ GPAs or artistic portfolios.

Private schools, by their very definition, are selective. They are not
obligated to accept every child, so getting admitted may involve in-
depth applications with multiple interviews, essays, and testing.
Because private schools define the identity of their communities, they
often pick and choose between candidates based not only on their
scholastic achievement but also their ethnicity and religious background
— as well as the special attributes (or assets) of their parents.

Teachers, curriculum, and class size

While most people assume that teachers at private schools are as
qualified as those at public ones, it’s important to note that all teachers
in a public school are usually state certified or, at a minimum, working
toward certification. Certification ensures that a teacher has gone
through the training required by the state, which includes student
teaching and course work. Teachers in private schools may not be
required to have certification. Instead, they often have subject-area
expertise and an undergraduate or graduate degree in the subject they
teach.

There’s a similar discrepancy between curriculum development in

private and public schools. Public schools must follow state guidelines
that set out specific standards and assessment procedures. In theory, this
creates a certain amount of quality control. Private schools, on the other
hand, can choose whatever curriculum and assessment model they wish.
This freedom to design their own curriculum or avoid standardized tests
can result in higher standards for students — or lower.

Many states recognize the value of small classes and have provided
funding to keep class sizes small in grades K-3. As students advance to
higher grades, class size tends to get bigger in public schools, especially
in large school districts and urban schools.

While many private schools provide small classes with low student-to-
teacher ratios, there is no guarantee that such schools will keep their
class size below a certain level. Some private schools — Catholic ones,
in particular — traditionally have larger classes than public schools.

Special needs
Due to special education laws, public schools must educate all children
and provide the necessary programs to meet their special needs. This
means that all school districts have special education programs and
teachers who are trained to work with special-needs students.
Private schools do not have to accept children with special needs, and
many choose not to (although there are a small number of private
schools designed for special-needs children). As a result, most private
schools do not have special education programs or teachers trained to
work with that student population. Some private schools will try to help
all the students they admit, but extra resources may come at an
additional cost. Other private schools practice something called
“counseling out” — recommending that children with learning
disabilities look elsewhere for a school.

How do you know what’s right for your child?

Don’t rely on hearsay and rumor when it comes to deciding between
private and public. Visit the schools and ask the teachers lots of
questions. Read school profiles on GreatSchools. At the end of the day,
the best school for your child is a highly personal decision based on
your family; your values; and, most important, the special needs,
idiosyncrasies, and interests of your kid. Let the debate rage on, but
don’t forget about the one person for whom this decision is far more
than sandbox banter.

Testing at private vs. public schools

Private school students typically score higher than public school
students on standardized tests, but a 2006 study (pdf) by the National
Center for Education Statistics (NCES), which took into account
students’ backgrounds, told a different story.

Public school students in fourth and eighth grade scored almost as well
or better than their private school peers in reading and math, except that
private school students excelled in eighth-grade reading.

A Harvard University study (pdf) challenged the results, using the same
data but different methods. Researchers found that private schools came
out ahead in 11 of 12 comparisons of students.

Earlier in 2006, an analysis of math scores by two University of Illinois

researchers found similar results to the NCES study. “Charter, Private,
Public Schools and Academic Achievement” states that “after
accounting for the fact that private schools serve more advantaged
populations, public schools perform remarkably well, often outscoring
private and charter schools.”
But as a dissenting view from the Thomas B. Fordham
Foundation’s Education Gadfly newsletter showed, the debate over
which kind of school does a better job is far from settled.

There is a perception that private schools are better than their public
counterparts because more money buys more resources which leads to
better results.

A review of the 2014 matric performance of the top public schools in the
country suggests that one does not need to break the bank to produce
excellent academic results.

BusinessTech has compiled data looking at the tuition costs, number of

students and number of Bachelor entry passes attained from some of the
most expensive private schools and top-performing public schools in South
Africa.

According to the department of education, 515 public schools in SA

attained a 100% pass rate in 2014. Of these, 111 schools have maintained
the perfect pass rate over the past 5 years – stretching back to 2010.

To determine the “top performing” public schools, BusinessTech

investigated these schools and ranked the top 10 according the number of
students who sat the exams.

As all the schools listed in this comparison – private and public – achieved
a 100% pass rate in 2014. The number of Bachelor entry passes (as a
percentage) was selected as the measure of performance.

It must be stressed that drawing any conclusions based on performance

versus cost in the schools listed below is limited, as private school costs
encompass more than just tuition.

For many private schools, the costs account for facilities, location and other
benefits (such as fewer students per class), as well as the history and
prestige associated with the schools.

The analysis does not take this into account, nor does it seek to compare
differences between IEB and NSC qualifications, the quality of teachers, or
any other factors that may affect the pricing of an institution.