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Essay on Public v. Private Schools
In general, school effect sizes tend to be larger in school systems that have governance structures that allow individual schools more control of their academic operations. This result from ‘contextually sensitive’ SER is an excellent rationale for reform initiatives, which call for greater faculty voice in the governance of schools, such as the ongoing restructuring movement in the USA.
Governance of school is a context issue that has been studied by both North American and European scholars. As a context variable, there can be little doubt that there are differences in the ways in which private or public schools are governed, or in the ways in which different school boards administer their schools. The issue at question in these context studies concerns whether or not these different governance structures have any effect on their students while in the schools or in their later lives. The following section will divide governance structure issues into three general areas: public versus private schools; the effect of different types of church schools; and the effect of different LEAs and school boards.
Studies by Coleman and his colleagues (Coleman, J. et al., 1981, 1982a, 1982b; Coleman and Hoffer, 1987) examined the differential effects that public and private high schools in the USA had on their students. Using data from the HS&B Study, they concluded that private school students had a significantly larger sophomore-senior gain than public school students. Coleman and his colleagues attributed these results to factors related to the disciplinary climate and the instructional quality of private schools. For instance, they contended that Catholic schools in the USA do better because they maintain better discipline, demand more homework, and require more advanced courses.Coleman and Hoffer (1987) further concluded that students from private schools were more successful than those from public schools in college...............
