Public Schools Aren't That Bad After All
As a product of the public school system who feels that he got a pretty good education, I feel vindicated by a new study by the National Center for Education Statistics, an independent arm of the Department of Education:
Of course, this study is a generalization. I concede that there are communities where public schools struggle to meet students' needs and area private schools provide a better education. On the other hand, I truly believe that there are communities where the public schools are stronger academically and have better facilities and better trained teachers than their private counterparts.
Truthfully, after three years of teaching at Sylvan Learning Centers in Evansville and Nashville, where I worked with both public and private school students, I think that the quality of a school has more to do with how much time and passion are invested in the school by parents and the community than whether the school is public or private. Moreover, the quality of a student's education has as much to do with the environment in which the student lives and how much family support he or she receives as it does with the school he or she attends. Certain homes and family situations are simply more conducive to learning and studying than others.
(Disclaimer: Both of my parents, my sister, and my wife's brother-in-law are career public school teachers.)
The independent research arm of the Department of Education issued a report showing that public schools are performing as well as or better than private schools, with the exception of eighth-grade reading, in which private schools excelled. . . .
The National Center for Education Statistics compared fourth- and eighth-grade reading and math scores from about 7,000 public schools and more than 530 private schools. Private-school students historically score higher, but the NCES made adjustments to account for student background -- such as socioeconomic factors and race -- which leveled the playing field.
The report also found that conservative Christian schools -- a constituency that supports vouchers -- lagged significantly behind public schools in eighth-grade math. The report supported similar findings from a University of Illinois study on math.
Of course, this study is a generalization. I concede that there are communities where public schools struggle to meet students' needs and area private schools provide a better education. On the other hand, I truly believe that there are communities where the public schools are stronger academically and have better facilities and better trained teachers than their private counterparts.
Truthfully, after three years of teaching at Sylvan Learning Centers in Evansville and Nashville, where I worked with both public and private school students, I think that the quality of a school has more to do with how much time and passion are invested in the school by parents and the community than whether the school is public or private. Moreover, the quality of a student's education has as much to do with the environment in which the student lives and how much family support he or she receives as it does with the school he or she attends. Certain homes and family situations are simply more conducive to learning and studying than others.
(Disclaimer: Both of my parents, my sister, and my wife's brother-in-law are career public school teachers.)
posted by Tinley | 6:04 AM
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