National study finds when populations are equal, public schools outperform private schools

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

The report, which compared fourth and eighth-grade reading and math scores from nearly 7,000 public schools and more than 530 private schools, also found that conservative Christian schools lagged significantly behind public schools when it came to eighth-grade math.

The study was commissioned by the Department of Education and conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics.

The report dug deep to compare students of like racial, economic and social backgrounds. When it did that, the public school scores were as good as or better than those at private-schools. According to the study, “[the] notable findings regarding the remarkable performance of public schools are significant.”

The surreptitious release of the information contained in the report also made news: It was released on a summer Friday, made without a news conference or comment from Federal Education Secretary Margaret Spellings, who later stated she had not read the report.

Findings from the report were first reported months ago by the National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at Teachers College, Columbia University. The Department of Education reportedly released the report about a year after receiving the findings.