(Thrust for Educational Leadership 1999) wrote: Voucher proponents claim that public school educators could learn a lot from private schools and their "superior" practices and outcomes. However, a report from the non-partisan Economic Policy Institute has found that the most important variation between schools lays in the type of community in which they are located (affluent, suburban, inner-city), not whether they are private or public.
Researchers conducted case studies of eight public and eight private elementary schools in California to determine whether there are any identifiable and transferable private school practices that public schools can adopt to improve student outcomes. They discovered:
• Private elementary school employees are not necessarily more accountable to parents than are public school personnel.
• Private school expectations for student outcomes are not more clearly defined.
• Private schools do not provide more meaningful evaluation, supervision or mentoring of teachers, nor are they more selective in hiring teachers than their public school counterparts. Private schools also did not necessarily have more flexibility in firing teachers.
• Private schools do not necessarily focus more on issues such as values and behavior.
• Private school innovations do not necessarily stimulate improved practices at the public schools with which they compete.
The report found that inner-city private schools shared more characteristics with public schools in low-income communities than with affluent suburban private schools. Likewise, suburban public schools had more in common with suburban private schools than with urban public schools.
The researchers conclude that the report's findings "could have importan...
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...erybody can get on a team in a smaller school." Similarly, a child who needs more individual attention might benefit because "it can customize a child's experience a little more."
Finally, I think it is up to each parent to establish what is best for their children. Some children need more attention than others and they learn better in smaller classrooms. What ever route you choose make sure your children are getting a good education.
References
(1999). Differences between public, private schools overstated, study finds. Thrust for Educational Leadership, 29(2), 4. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database.
Lawrence, L. (1997, April 28). The pros and cons of public vs. private schools. Christian Science Monitor, p. 12. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete database
Public School Choice is an easy program to understand and it contains many advantages but also many disadvantages. Public School Choice is when parents can elect to send their children out of a school that has not made adequate yearly progress for two consecutive years into a school that has made progress. (McClure, 2002) If there are no available schools within the original school district, then a family can choose to send their children to another district. This only happens when the other schools in the original district are all labeled as ‘underachieving schools’ and have not made the adequate yearly progress. (McClure, 2002)
To understand the actual differences of charter and public school quality of education, it is important to emphasize a fact often lost in the debate; namely, charter schools are public schools, which simply operate under different guidelines. This reality is more critical because of how perception clouds it. Charter schools are perceived as private institutions, supporters of them tend to be conservatives who feel the schools represent the value of competition in education, while opponents typically express the need for public school reform as more crucial in promoting educational equality (Rofes, 159). This political and ideological compone...
Parker, Suzi. (2013, April 25). Charter Schools vs. Public: Is One Better Than the Other? TakePart. Retrieved April 27, 2014, from http://www.takepart.com/article/2013/04/25/charter-schools-are-they-better-public-schools
Recent trends toward privatizing schools and relieving them of state requirements wrongly imply that schools should mirror the desires of parents and ignore the public's interest in having citizens educated for democracy.
Since teaching religion in a public schools has been banned, parents may opt for a private school with a religious component. Catholic, Jewish, and Christian schools can embrace faith-based education in their curriculum, and other activities. “Academic religion promotes “personal character”, and “love of learning” (William 86). Many private schools go beyond academics, and require daily attendance at a chapel, synagogue, or temple. Students of non-religious families also attend religious schools. For example, the number of non-Catholic students attending Catholic schools. Freedom of school choice is wider than it ever was. A factor that plays a large role in parents deciding whether to send their children to public, or private school is whether, or not they want religious, and or moral instruction to play a part of their children’s academic environment. Religion in education is such a controversial topic by itself that it might take a long discussion to develop the topic. There are many strong arguments for this matter. “The government takes an appropriate approach to religion in education” (Attack on Public schools). The government allows for freedom of expression in schools yet, they are preventing the teachers from influencing the students with their religious beliefs. This topic really demonstrates the fact that everyone is different, which causes people to
Is it fair that Susie’s parents pinch pennies while Jesse’s mother send her on the bus for free? While meaning well, does the voucher system inadvertently discriminate against children like Susie whose parents must work extra hours to put their children through private school? Is the voucher system really the answer to the problems with American education today, or a way to transfer them somewhere else? American public schools have always had their flaws. In the nineteenth century, colleges complained of under-prepared freshmen; students who could not write an essay or even spell. A main controversy was bilingual education for newly naturalized immigrants. As America entered the early 1900s, the debate turned to the use of entertainment in the classroom. Teachers felt that they must put on a show in order to keep the attention of their pupils. The abandonment of phonics in the 1920s and 30s was believed to be the reason why the job market consisted of those with inadequate educational preparation. Social promotion and the replacement of the “three R’s” with emotional stability and attitude courses were the causes of concern in the 1940s. The 1950s brought an awareness of low standards. It was found that American children were lagging behind the average standards of the rest of the world. Safety in schools also became an issue; incoming teachers were warned of the “ph...
...school rather than public schools.”(School Vouchers, 2013) These scholarships provide an opportunity for low-income or disabled students to have a private alternative for his or hers education. The opportunity scholarships allow those who can’t afford a private education to experience being in a higher performing school but is this a guarantee? One might argue that public schools are governed by regulations that “inhibit performance.”(Christopher and Weitzel, 2008) It is true that public schools are governed by the federal regulations but they still offer a competitive edge against their private school counterparts. Vouchers have not been received so joyously by all. The controversy of using vouchers to “redirect public funds to private organization, including religiously affiliated private schools.” This controversy shows a depiction of linking church and state.
Many people want us to believe that the problem with school lies not in the idea of public education, but in the way public schools are managed and funded...
Private schools have been shown to have a higher level of education than public schools. Private schools also tend to offer more electives for students to choose from, this means they are more exposed to different future professions at an earlier age. However, the average private school tuition in the U.S. for elementary school is $15,945 a year, and $27,302 a year for secondary school. Less wealthy families simply can’t afford to pay these high prices; this makes it so they must send their child to a public school. Public schools aren’t a bad thing but they aren’t at the same academic level as private schools. This will set their child at a disadvantage when they enter college with student who did go to a private school. Their education as a child will have a big impact on how well they do in college if they decide to go. People from public schools now have to compete with people who have had a better education their whole life. They have to compete with these people for jobs in the future and how well someone does in college has a great impact qualification for jobs.
Most of the time parents are often concerned with overpopulated schools being crowded and more prone to bullying. Also many of these children 's parents do not believe that these public schools are giving their children the education they need. (Messerli,2016) In addition these parents want their children to have access to all the benefits that are held in a private school regardless of the price. On other circumstances, parents sometimes also want their kids become more religious, and since most private schools are based on a religious outlook they choose to send them there. There are many types of private schools, they are often categorized based on the school 's funding. They may be characterized as independent or non- profit, all of the private schools are managed by a certain group for example a religious group is often managed by an affiliated board or by the religious institution to whatever one they belong too. A private school is usually categorized as independent or nonprofit. The private schools labeled Proprietary usually are for profit or funding, parochial schools are funded by a church group or a religious
For some parents, deciding on a school for their children can be a difficult decision. Many parents do not spend much time thinking about it; they place their children into the local school designated by where they live. Others attended a private school themselves and found that it was a beneficial experience and therefore want the same for their kids. But which is better: private schools or public schools? While there are many advantages and disadvantages in each (nothing is going to be absolutely perfect), we are going to focus on the benefits of an education in the public school system, or in other words, schools funded by the government that are for anyone to attend. An accurate definition found in the Encyclopedia of American Education (1996) states: “Any elementary or secondary school under control of elected or appointed civil authority, supported entirely by public tax monies, and, with few exceptions, open to all students in a designated district, free of any tuition charges.” (780) These include elementary, secondary schools and vocational schools. Public schools are a good choice in education because they provide a wide variety of subjects to study, are diverse in their student body, available to everyone, yet can sometimes be misunderstood.
Something that is very interesting about this topic, is that every day a parent must make a very important decision about where their kids will attend school. Can a private school give a child a better education or are the teachers more educated, then a private teacher? Or can a public school give a child a better education?
Parents all know that school is very important to their children. They know that school is the next big step to success. The parents want their children to be very successful in school which means that the parents want their child to attend a school that will be more successful than other schools. When looking at several different schools, parents often ask theirself if they should enroll their child in a private school or a public school. They compare and contrast several different high schools until they find the perfect one for their child. They look to see what schools offers the best education with a great learning environment. Then they look to see what schools has the highest graduation rate. Then they look to see what schools prepare
According to the article, written by Albert Shanker, it states, “Many people assumed that private school students outperform public school students, but private schools seldom released their test scores...the National Assessment of Educational Progress released the results of its 1990 math exam. The NAEP reported that private school students scored on average a few percentage points better than the public school students.” (Shanker 2). Comparatively private and public schools’ test scores are very similar; a few points difference on one test does not prove one school to be better than the other. Rather, more testing records need to be present for a stronger comparison to be
Certain groups support parents' rights to send their children to private or religious schools but oppose the use of public funds to do so. The main reason for this opposition is because public funding of private or religious education transfers precious tax dollars from public schools, which are free and open to all children, accountable to parents and taxpayers alike, and essential to our democracy, to private and religious schools. Private and religious schools, in turn, charge for their services, select their students on the basis of religious, academic, family or personal characteristics, and are accountable only to their boards and clients.