I have finally had a chance to look at the study you have pointed out. I have a few more pages to go, but here is what I have seen so far.

First, let’s look at who this group is.

Henry M. Levin, Director
Professor Levin is the William Heard Kilpatrick Professor of Economics and Education at Teachers College, Columbia University, and the David Jacks Professor Emeritus of Higher Education and Economics at Stanford University.

Clive Belfield, Associate Director
Dr. Belfield is an economist working on education policy, the efficiency of education enterprises and the cost-effectiveness of education. He has undertaken research for the British Government, the European Parliament, and the World Bank.

Chad d’ Entremont, Assistant Director, Dissemination
Mr. d’Entremont is a doctoral candidate in Politics and Education at Teachers College. His primary interest is how ideology informs debates centered on school choice and privatization.

Casandra Gomez Arnon, Project Coordinator
Ms. Arnon has professional experience in higher education administration and the non-profit sector. She has a Masters degree in Art and Art Education from Teachers College.

Greg Elaqua, Research Assistant
Mr. Elacqua will begin his doctoral studies in the Comparative and International Education Program at Teachers College in the Fall of 2006.

Brian Gabele, Research Assistant
Mr. Gabele is a doctoral candidate in the Economics of Education Program at Teachers College.

Heather Schwartz, Iscol Research Fellow for Educational Equity and Policy
Ms. Schwartz is an EdD student in Leadership, Policy and Politics at Teachers College, supported by the Iscol Research Fellowship. She is interested in the connections between schools and neighborhoods.

Munyi Shea , Staff Associate
Ms. Shea supports the administration of the Center. She is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Counseling and Clinical Psychology at Teachers College.

Jessica Simon, Research Assistant
Ms. Simon is a doctoral candidate in Economics of Education at Teachers College.

Elisabeth Thurston, Research Assistant
Ms. Thurston is a doctoral candidate in Politics and Education at Teachers College.

Katy Bulkley, Faculty Associate
Professor, Montclair State University

Jeff Henig, Faculty Associate
Professor of Political Science and Education, Teachers College.

Luis Huerta, Faculty Associate
Professor of Education, Teachers College.

Amy Stuart Wells, Faculty Associate
Professor of Sociology and Education, Teachers College.

You’ll notice a common thread. Most of them work at Teachers College. This fact alone makes the their claim of being non-partisan suspect.

Second, let’s look at the study itself.

From page 5 – “Sample sizes for some private school types were relatively small (ranging from 78-224 schools), and reduced slightly further in the full HLM models (57-203 schools). The participation rate for 4th grade conservative Christian schools, for 8th-grade charter schools, and for “other private”

As for “discrediting”, I’ve read the analysis and it it no way sets out to discredit; there’s a big difference between “qualify” and “discredit”. One might think you have an agenda…that wouldn’t be true, would it?

This says it all about this study. They have an agenda and that agenda is to discredit the scores of charter schools and private schools. To them, any number showing public schools are behind means they have to change the analysis.

From a very recent study comparing public to private schools:

A summary:
http://www.dallasnews.com/s/dws/dn/education/columnists/jbenton/stories/062705dnmetedcol.4b6a3351.html

An abstract and the study itself:
http://www.ncspe.org/readrel.php?set=pub&cat=126

Comment by Nan — 6/30/2006 @ 4:09 pm

Don’t get me wrong…I have nothing against ASCI schools; I think they serve a very useful purpose and produce fine results. It’s just that “site admin’s” argument (and your implication) won’t hold water relative to the test score comparison.

“Once again, proof is available to dispell the myth that money will solve the problem. It will not. If money were the issue, then ACSI schools would be providing a lower quality education than Public Government schools. The exact opposite is true; ACSI provide a higher quality education for less money.”

The test score data proves nothing of the sort. When the samples tested have nothing in common, the outcome is irrelevant. I answer your questions when they apply to the argument. I will not respond to your attempts to make something racial out of this. For that, sir, you should be ashamed.

The only area that you haven’t hit but intentionally seem to be walking around is the religious part of the prerequisite. I’m wondering if you have issues with that but just not saying it? I guess what I’m asking is do you have some kind of chip on your shoulder with this subject?

The reason I ask that is because Lennie and I have debunked your “understanding” of selectiveness. Again… if you have any question about Westlake… you need to call THEM up! If you look again at their policy… it seems to be always talking about extreme situations, grades, etc. What I am reading from their policy is that they are a case by case basis. I DO NOT read the best of the best, although they may turn out such students. (i.e.”

“Your premise is wrong from the beginning. It appears you believe that all schools teach equally whether government run or private. This premise is false.

Private schools must teach better to compete in the free market with parents. If they did not, they would lose enrollment and eventually go out of business. If they do well, the enrollment increases.

Government schools have no incentive to improve their students academically. They get the taxpayer money no matter what leaving most kids performing at a lower level than those in private schools.

With the 2 models, private schools students become the best, not because they were selected at the start, but because the private school education was better.”

If one could filter the government schools test scores the same way the WCA filters admission, the results might be interesting.

Back to your original premise: “It is conventional wisdom that private religious school test scores are higher than that of public schools. Have you every wondered what the difference actually was in test scores?”

As one who abandoned government schools long ago, I never subscribed to such “wisdom” and never felt the need to “wonder” as you did. In fact, it doesn’t appear wise to me. My selection of private schools was always based on the performance of my options. I didn’t really care how they stacked up against the option I had already eliminated.

Please do not take this as license to stray from the point. Your premis is still invalid.