And lest it be thought that there is something inherent in religious education that breeds intolerance, remember that Catholic - school students show higher levels of tolerance than students
in assigned public schools.
Forty - seven percent
of assigned public school students perform community service, compared with 64 percent of students in other religious schools and 71 percent of students in Catholic schools.
Without any adjustments to the data, the results show that, statistically, there is no difference
between assigned public schools and magnet public schools or secular private schools.
Thus, fewer than half (41 percent) of the students in these grades went to
assigned public schools over which their parents had no direct or indirect choice.
This compares with 16 percent of students
in assigned public schools, 22 percent in magnet public schools, 28 percent in other religious schools, and 38 percent in secular private schools.
Employing this method, we could compare the levels of segregation for the students in charter schools to what they would have experienced had they remained in their
residentially assigned public schools.
However, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), in a series of surveys conducted between 1993 and 2012, reported on parental satisfaction
with assigned public schools, public schools chosen by parents, private religious schools, and private nonreligious schools.
For example, David Campbell has found that «students in Catholic schools perform better than students in
assigned public schools on all three objectives of civic education — capacity for civic engagement, political knowledge, and political tolerance.»
Students in
assigned public schools got an average of 2.4 questions out of five correct, while students in Catholic, religious / non-Catholic, and secular private schools scored an average of 3.2, 3.4, and 3.2 respectively.
For more than 100 years, we treated education the same: students are
assigned a public school based solely on their zip code and the school district they happen to be zoned for.
Students in secular private, Catholic, and other religious schools are more likely than students
in assigned public schools to have confidence in their ability to exercise civic skills if called upon to do so.
Ritter continues, «Instead of asking whether all students in charter schools are more likely to attend segregated schools than are all students in traditional public schools, we should be comparing the levels of segregation for the students in charter schools to what they would have experienced had they remained in their
residentially assigned public schools.»
In most places, private schools accepting voucher recipients must meet standards set by the government, and voucher recipients must meet eligibility requirements, such as family income, disability status, and / or the performance of
their assigned public school.
Catholic - school students still score higher than assigned public students, though the difference is only a third as large as that between secular private schools and
assigned public schools.
The answer appears to be no; in fact students in Catholic schools are more likely to engage in voluntary service than are students in
assigned public schools, and there were no significant differences between students in assigned public schools and those in the three other types of schools.
There is no statistically significant difference between students in
assigned public schools and those in secular private, magnet public, or religious / non-Catholic schools.
Students in Catholic and secular private schools have higher tolerance scores than students in
assigned public schools, averaging 1.6 and 1.8 tolerant responses respectively, compared with 1.4 tolerant responses among assigned public school students.
While more of their students participate in community service than do students in
assigned public schools, the difference ceases to be statistically significant.
Once the statistical adjustments are made for all the factors that can influence students» political knowledge except the type of school they attend, only students in Catholic schools still perform better than do students in
assigned public schools.
Taken together, these results give no reason to suspect that private schools do a worse job of providing a civic education than
assigned public schools and some reason to think they do a better job.
Students in magnet public schools have slightly higher scores than
assigned public school students, although the difference does not approach statistical significance.
The results still show that students in Catholic schools are more likely to perform community service than those in
assigned public schools (see Figure 1).
Before making any adjustments, the average scores of students in
assigned public schools are lower than those in Catholic, religious / non-Catholic, and secular private schools.
While students in Catholic schools (the most common form of private education) and secular private schools are more politically tolerant than students in
assigned public schools, the 2 percent of America's students in other religious schools - an amalgam of schools sponsored by many different faiths - score lower on the political tolerance index.
Compared with a student who attends
an assigned public school, a Catholic - school student learns an average of.13 more civic skills.
After again making the statistical adjustments listed above, students in secular private schools scored substantially higher on the political tolerance index than students in
assigned public schools, while students in religious / non-Catholic schools scored substantially lower (see Figure 2).
However, students in both Catholic and other religious schools are more likely to engage in community service than are students in
assigned public schools.
In Florida, eligible students are provided with a voucher equivalent to the lesser of the amount
the assigned public school would have spent on the child and the tuition at the accepting private school.
Teachers are more than twice as likely to
assign their public schools a D or an F as they are to give this rating to the post offices or police in their communities (Q. 3, 4).
With options including charter schools, magnet schools, districtwide open enrollment, and a federally funded scholarship program, less than 25 percent of students attend
their assigned public school.
Unfortunately for low - income families, your options are usually limited to
your assigned public school regardless of whether or not it is meeting your child's needs.
One out of four of them opt for a school other than
the assigned public school.
For students without an Individualized Education Plan (IEP), scholarships may be worth up to $ 5,000, or 80 percent of the average per - pupil expenditure in
the assigned public school district, whichever is greater.
Kelley Williams - Bolar of Akron, Ohio was sentenced to 10 days in jail for enrolling her daughters in a highly ranked neighboring district outside of
her assigned public school zone.
72 % of AAE members support Arizona's Empowerment Scholarship Accounts (ESAs), which enable students to leave
their assigned public schools, taking 90 % of the state dollars with them.
When parents have alternatives to
their assigned public school, schools must be responsive to the parent's needs.
The Georgia Special Needs Scholarship Program allows any student with a disability whose parents are unhappy with
their assigned public school to receive a voucher to attend private school.
Wealthy and upper middle - class parents have the financial means to send their child to a school of their choice or move to a different district when
their assigned public school fails to meet their child's needs.
However, using proximity to public alternatives as an instrument for opting out of
the assigned public school, the author finds no significant benefit of opting out on student achievement and that those who opt out of their default public schools often perform significantly worse on standardized tests than similar students who stay behind.
Many children are flourishing in
their assigned public schools.
Indiana's program offers vouchers to low - income families, giving them an amount equal to 90 percent of the state funds that otherwise would have gone to
their assigned public schools to educate their children.