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LEAD-IN BY HOST SHALINI TRIPATHI: New information has surfaced on the question of which educational school system is academically beneficial to students. With more on the story, here is Demetria Norris.
STORY: Reports released this year by the National Assessment of Educational Progress indicate that students attending private schools score higher on standardized test than students attending public schools. Other studies suggests that minority students in private schools, particularly African Americans, show greater improvement in the areas of mathematics and science.
Private schools use the Stanford Nine Test, a combination of multiple-choice and open-ended questions. The test focuses on real-life situations and elicits actual performance from students.
The Director at Sweetwater Christian School, Jack Hightower, finds that these tests help private school students compete academically with students from public schools. Hightower says that the Stanford Nine is a better indicator of a student's academic level that tests like the TAAS [and TAKS] which are given in this state's public schools.
"Stanford Nine is a test that tests the student on higher critical thinking skills, it gives us a percentage, where as on the TAAS it is just a yes or no. Whether they are on level or off level you don't really know that. Even some public schools use Stanford Nine now because it gives a more detailed explanation of the level that they achieved on those tests."
Many educational researchers do not believe a comparison can be made between the two types of schools, because private schools are not held to the same accountability that public schools are held.
Private schools use the minimum requirements of the public school's system to pass students to the next level. For example, the Stanford Nine test is a Norm Reference Test, which compares scores of private schools students with other students their age. Superintendent of Champaign Independent School District, Arthur Culver, says that the academic growth and development of students are not captured in the Stanford Nine Test.
"There's a high level of accountability because of the state assessment system, and because the state actually monitors the student success at each district as well as on each campus. Sometimes you go to a private school and that accountability piece is not there because there is no outside agency that's really monitoring things and making sure that all kids are achieving."
yet they have higher scores? (added by Ustwo)
The increasing advancement of educational success of minority students in the private school system is a focal point in a study conducted by Harvard political scientist, Paul Peterson. Based on Peterson's research, African-American students who leave public schools to attend private schools, improve in both math and science.
Sandra Gayden, an African American mother, who has sent her children to both private and public schools, suggests that higher test scores are not the only advantages of going to private schools. Gayden says that the school environment and the attention that the teachers and administration give to the students are also an important factor in school selection. Gayden:
"When my kids were at school, the teachers were there to meet them in the mornings, take them into class, stayed with them all day, even at recess time...it never changed. Versus public school, you may see a teacher, you may not, and if you do, I would suspect that the one teacher is personally dedicated to caring about her children, or her students rather."
Although many parents use test scores in deciding where their children should go to school, other factors may be of equal importance. School environment, teacher dedication and strong administrative leadership can determine which school -- public or private -- regardless of test scores, is best for all students.
Demetria Norris, KPFT News, Houston
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The National Assessment of Educational Progress can be found
HERE . I went to their data section, and every time I checked a subject/grade leve/public vrs private, the privates were all higher scores (multiple years involved as well). I didn't check them all obviously but quite telling don't you think?
Now, yes public schools are handicapped with who goes there, but think Superbelt WHY do parents who are more involved send their kids to private schools? Maybe because they ARE better?
Ironically that’s one of the funny complaints about the voucher system, I don't have a source as it was on the radio but some teachers union mouthpiece was saying that vouchers would be bad because they would take the active parents out of a the public schools. I could see her warped and twisted point (sure deny their kid a better education for the possible nebulous and unproven good of other students, how very socialistic), but making ALL the schools private and giving parents a choice would solve this 'issue' without a problem, and maybe those kids with 'less involved' parents would have a chance at least to go to a better school.
I have a nephew with autism. He gets assistance at school, and while he is in a normal public school he does have a teachers aid with him. Making schools private would do nothing to prevent this sort of program. Students with such problems would have a larger voucher (as the govt spends more on them now as it is) to cover such costs. Problem solved.
While not all public schools are bad, they could all be better and like all fields, completion is good. I'll end this with a quote which sums up why our public schools are lacking in so many ways.
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"When school children start paying union dues, that's when I'll start representing the interests of school children."
Albert Shanker, former president
American Federation of Teachers (1985)
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