Public schools perform on par with private schools, study says

[usregimechange]

WASHINGTON – The federal Education Department reported yesterday that, in reading and math, children attending public schools generally do as well as or better than comparable children in private schools...

The study, carrying the imprimatur of the National Center for Education Statistics, part of the Education Department, was released without a news conference or comment from Education Secretary Margaret Spellings.

http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060715/news_1n15schools.html

[BanzaiBonnie]

1. She should have held a press conference to announce that NT

[WCGreen]

2. You are kidding aren't you....

That dispells all the hype about letting the market decide where public funds for education should be spent...

[pepperbear]

3. As conservative heads explode everywhere.....n/t

[dsc]

4. This should be no surprise

Cleveland Ohio was ground zero for vouchers when I worked in the public schools there and several studies were done with all of them showing that public schools were better than the voucher schools. In some cases the difference wasn't statistically significant but in most cases the difference was. Needless to say each and every study would be found to have mysterious flaws justifying another study which would then show the same thing.

[lindisfarne]

5. Given the educational programs of a lot of private schools (esp. religious

this doesn't surprise me at all. It's also not saying much to say that the public schools are as good as your average religious fundie school (i'm exaggerating a bit but a lot of those private schools are either catholic or religious fundamentalist).

[Rosemary2205]

6. That means Georgia private schools suck too?

Not very encouraging is it.

[Yupster]

8. No

The key phrase in the report is "comparable students."

If you were a principal of an inner city Atlanta school with 90 % + of minority kids from lower income neighborhoods, how would you feel if you got this report saying that your school did as well as the private school in the suburbs, among "comparable students."

So your white upper class kids did just as well as theirs.

That would be real meaningful if you had any white upper class kids.

In the meantime, your lower income minority kids will continue to read three grade levels below their upper class white kids even while the study says your the same.

It's just playing with statistics, and I think a bunch of people are reading it as the test scores of the schools were the same which is not even close to what it's saying.

[JI7]

7. i think it is still funding and resources

a voucher, charter or other type of non public school that doesn't get the funding it needs to provide all the kids what they need wont be so good.

that's why public schools in more wealthy areas tend to do well. they often get a lot of private funding through the families of the students. and of course they know people and have the connections to get things provided to their schools.

[Warren DeMontague]

9. Yes, but the public schoolkids aren't getting their RDA of Vitamin Jesus.

and who can put a price tag on that?

[rucky]

10. Imagine that...

employing un-certified teachers for less pay isn't improving education.

[usregimechange]

11. good point.