#PrivateShools #PublicSchools #education #QualityEducation
A new study has turned conventional wisdom on its head.
While most think that private schools do a better job educating students than public schools, the study shows it not to be true.
Valerie Strauss tackled this subject in a Washington Post article that was also published Aug. 7, 2018, in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The University of Virginia researchers looked at data from more than 1,000 students. It found that “all of the advantages supposedly conferred on private education evaporate when socio-economic characteristics are factored in,” the article says.
The study also found no evidence to suggest that low-income children or children in urban schools benefit more from private school enrollment, the article says.
“You only need to control for family income and there is no advantage,” the article quotes Robert Pianta, dean of UVA’s Curry School of Education. Pianta conducted the study with Arya Ansari, a postdoctoral research associate at the university’s Center for Advanced Study for Teaching and Learning.
Pianta also says that kids who come from homes with higher incomes and parental education achievement offer young children, from birth to age 5, educational resources and stimulation that other children don’t get, according to the article. These conditions presumably carry on through all school years, Pianta concludes, according to the article.
Let’s break it down further. Some private schools can offer what public schools can’t, such as religious education. It may be worth the parents’ expense to see that their children get that religious education along with academics.
But for those parents looking purely at academics, there is probably no need to incur the expense of private education.
Certainly, there are other reasons, too, to consider private education. Safety may be one. A private school may incur whatever expense is necessary to make sure there are no unwanted visitors in school.
Those parents who cannot afford private education, over and above the taxes they pay for public education, can rest assured that their students likely would not do any better academically in a private school.
Certainly, there are private schools designed for children with special needs – though most public schools have solid programs for those students.
In short, unless there are special circumstances, a student will probably do no better in a private school. The key is how much parents value education, and how willing they are to work with their children outside of school.
We like to measure education on what kind of job a student can get after graduation. If you have a student who is unsure what he or she wants to do with his life, there are plenty of vehicles out there through which they can earn a potentially good income while they are trying to figure out what they want. To learn about one of the best, message me.
Educating children, so they can turn into good, productive adults, is perhaps the greatest task we as a society are challenged with. Governments in many areas have been reducing education funding over the years, for a variety of reasons.
But, aside from parents, there may be no more important people in a child’s life than his or her teachers. Parents can support their child’s school in many ways. The most important way, though, may be to put a high value on education, and help the child learn the importance of education from the day they are born.
Peter