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School Choice and Student Performance: Are Private Schools Really Better?

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Author Info
D. N. Figlio
J. A. Stone

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Abstract

Are private schools really better than public schools, or is it simply that better students attend private schools? Although a number of recent studies find that students perform better in private schools (more specifically, Catholic schools), others do not. Typically, however, the instruments used to adjust for nonrandom selection are weak. This study employs uniquely detailed local instruments and jointly models selection into religious and nonreligious private high schools, relative to public high schools—improving instrument power in predicting private sector attendance to roughly three times that of prior studies. Failing to correct adequately for selection leads to a systematic upward bias in the estimated treatment effect for religious schools, but a downward bias for nonreligious private schools. With adequate correction, religious schools are modestly inferior in mathematics and science, while nonreligious schools are substantially superior. However, minority students, particularly in urban areas, benefit from religious schools. Other factors that may make both religious and nonreligious private schools attractive include possibly better retention rates, increased security and discipline, and greater opportunities for a variety of specialized school-day and extracurricular activities.

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Paper provided by University of Wisconsin Institute for Research on Poverty in its series Institute for Research on Poverty Discussion Papers with number 1141-97.

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Handle: RePEc:wop:wispod:1141-97

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:

  1. Thomas A. Downes & Shane M. Greenstein, 1996. "Understanding the Supply Decisions of Nonprofits: Modelling the Location of Private Schools," RAND Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 27(2), pages 365-390, Summer. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Sander, William & Krautmann, Anthony C, 1995. "Catholic Schools, Dropout Rates and Educational Attainment," Economic Inquiry, Oxford University Press, vol. 33(2), pages 217-33, April.
  3. Hoxby, Caroline Minter, 1996. "How Teachers' Unions Affect Education Production," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 111(3), pages 671-718, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Evans, William N & Schwab, Robert M, 1995. "Finishing High School and Starting College: Do Catholic Schools Make a Difference?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 110(4), pages 941-74, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Goldhaber, Dan D., 1996. "Public and private high schools: Is school choice an answer to the productivity problem?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 15(2), pages 93-109, April. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Lankford, Hamilton & Wyckoff, James, 1992. "Primary and secondary school choice among public and religious alternatives," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 317-337, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. repec:fth:prinin:371 is not listed on IDEAS
  8. Cecilia Rouse, 1996. "Private School Vouchers and Student Achievement: An Evaluation of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program," Working Papers 750, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section.. [Downloadable!]
  9. Lee, Lung-Fei, 1982. "Some Approaches to the Correction of Selectivity Bias," Review of Economic Studies, Blackwell Publishing, vol. 49(3), pages 355-72, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Richard J. Murnane & John B. Willett & Frank Levy, 1995. "The Growing Importance of Cognitive Skills in Wage Determination," NBER Working Papers 5076, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  11. Dubin, Jeffrey A & McFadden, Daniel L, 1984. "An Econometric Analysis of Residential Electric Appliance Holdings and Consumption," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 52(2), pages 345-62, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Caroline Minter Hoxby, 1994. "Does Competition Among Public Schools Benefit Students and Taxpayers?," NBER Working Papers 4979, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  13. Peltzman, Sam, 1996. "Political Economy of Public Education: Non-College-Bound Students," Journal of Law & Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 39(1), pages 73-120, April.
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  14. Neal, Derek A & Johnson, William R, 1996. "The Role of Premarket Factors in Black-White Wage Differences," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(5), pages 869-95, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  15. Bishop, John Hillman, 1989. "Is the Test Score Decline Responsible for the Productivity Growth Decline?," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(1), pages 178-97, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  16. Lankford R. H. & Lee E. S. & Wyckoff J. H., 1995. "An Analysis of Elementary and Secondary School Choice," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 38(2), pages 236-251, September. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  17. Julian R. Betts, 1996. "The Role of Homework in Improving School Quality," University of California at San Diego, Economics Working Paper Series 96-16, Department of Economics, UC San Diego. [Downloadable!]
  18. Murnane, Richard J & Newstead, Stuart & Olsen, Randall J, 1985. "Comparing Public and Private Schools: The Puzzling Role of Selectivity Bias," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 3(1), pages 23-35, January.
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(explanations, Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.)

  1. Brunello, Giorgio & Rocco, Lorenzo, 2004. "Diploma No Problem: Can Private Schools Be of Lower Quality than Public Schools?," IZA Discussion Papers 1336, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  2. William Sander, 2000. "Parochial Schools and Student Achievement: Findings for Older Adults," Education Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 8(3), pages 259-268, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Thomas J. Nechyba, 2000. "Mobility, Targeting, and Private-School Vouchers," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 90(1), pages 130-146, March. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. William Duncombe & John Yinger, 2001. "Does School Consolidation Cut Costs?," Center for Policy Research Working Papers 33, Center for Policy Research, Maxwell School, Syracuse University. [Downloadable!]
  5. Andrea Tokman Ramos, 2002. "Is Private Education Better? Evidence from Chile," Working Papers Central Bank of Chile 147, Central Bank of Chile. [Downloadable!]
  6. Giorgio Brunello & Lorenzo Rocco, 2005. "Educational Standards in Private and Public Schools," CESifo Working Paper Series CESifo Working Paper No. , CESifo Group Munich. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  7. María J. Luengo Prado & Oscar Volij, 1999. "Public Education, Communities, and Vouchers," Economic theory and game theory 008, Oscar Volij. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  8. Ragnvid, Beatrice Schindler, 2003. "Evaluating Private School Quality in Denmark," Working Papers 03-2, University of Aarhus, Aarhus School of Business, Department of Economics. [Downloadable!]
  9. Thomas J. Nechyba, 1999. "A Model of Multiple Districts and Private Schools: The Role of Mobility, Targeting, and Private School Vouchers," NBER Working Papers 7239, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  10. Lonnie K. Stevans, David N. Sessions, 2000. "Private/Public School Choice and Student Performance Revisited," Education Economics, Taylor and Francis Journals, vol. 8(2), pages 169-184, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. Patrick Bayer & Robert McMillan, 2005. "Choice and Competition in Local Education Markets," NBER Working Papers 11802, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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