For decades education policymakers have been concerned with the achievement gap between school students from low and high income backgrounds. William Jeynes argues that one way to tackle this problem would be to allow greater school choice, which would include private and faith schools. He writes that faith schools yield better educational results for students than traditional public schools or charter schools, and do so at much lower cost

Jeynes, William

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blogs.lse.ac.ukhttp://blogs.lse.ac.uk/usappblog/2014/03/31/policymakers-should-embrace-greater-school-choice-to-include-private-and-faith-schools-to-address-the-achievement-gap/Policymakers should embrace greater school choice to includeprivate and faith schools to address the achievement gap.For decades education policymakers have been concerned with the achievement gap betweenschool students from low and high income backgrounds. William Jeynes argues that one way totackle this problem would be to allow greater school choice, which would include private and faithschools. He writes that faith schools yield better educational results for students than traditionalpublic schools or charter schools, and do so at much lower cost.Economists have known for centuries that a strong education system is conducive to economicefficiency. In recent decades, researchers have become increasingly concerned over theeducational ‘achievement gap’ between those on low and high incomes. Could this persistent gap be – at least inpart – due to an insistence on policymakers’ part limiting the number of educational options that are used? I arguethat a policy of greater school choice that includes private schools may bring about a number of economicbenefits in the US.School choice has the potential of significantly enhancing economic efficiency for two reasons. First, schoolchoice programs that include private schools will likely reduce the achievement gap. When the achievement gapis reduced and youth from homes of low socioeconomic status or are of color do well in school their chances ofoccupational success are enhanced. Research using meta-analyses and nationwide data sets indicates that theachievement gap, both racially and by socioeconomic status is 25 percent narrower in faith-based schools thanthey are in public schools.Loomis Chaffee School in Windsor, Connecticut. Credit: Russ Glasson (Creative Commons BY NC SA)A second reason why a school choice program that includes private schools could increase economic efficiency isbecause private Christian schools are able to operate at roughly 60 percent of the cost per student that publicschools do and a huge percentage of state budgets are dedicated to public education . For example, nearly 50%of California’s state budget is dedicated to public K-12 and college education. Much of that spending isunnecessary. Public schools overpay administrators, purchase high-tech equipment that is rarely used, and offerprofligate perks to their employees. Like all monopolies, the American public school system is inefficient .Recent meta-analyses and the quantitative analysis of nationwide data sets have been instrumental inunderstanding the potential benefits of a program of school choice that includes faith-based private schools. Ameta-analysis statistically combines all the relevant existing studies on a given subject to determine theaggregated results of that research. The results of nationwide data sets and meta-analyses indicate that religiousprivate schools benefit:  1) African American and Latino students more than their white counterparts and 2) thelowest socioeconomic status (SES) quartile of students the most (see Figure 1), the second lowest quartile ofthese youth the second most, and the highest quartile of students the least. It therefore appears that one of theeasiest means of narrowing the achievement gap will not require billions of dollars of additional governmentsupport, but rather simply facilitating schools of faith to do what they already do quite well.Figure 1- Effects of private schools on the academic achievement of twelfth-grade children by SESQuartileSource: NELS Dataset: N = 20,706Second, faith-based schools yield better results for students than either traditional public schools or public charterschools. According to a meta-analysis of studies with sample sizes of over 1 million students, students from faith-based private schools averaged about 9 months ahead of their counterparts in both traditional public schools andcharter schools. Most of the faith-based school advantage remains intact, even when one controls forsocioeconomic status, school selectivity, race, and gender. The results have even greater salience, becauseChristian schools and other religious schools operate at a much lower cost per student than do public schools.What this means for economic policyThe results of the meta-analyses and quantitative analyses raise an important question. After five decades oftrying, with only very limited success, to reduce the achievement gap, could it be that this nation’s failure to bridgethe achievement could rest in its insular insistence on limiting the number of options utilized to bring aboutprogress? Could it be that educators typically limit the range of options to something less than the full gamutbecause they consider options available only in the public sector? To the degree that this might be so, socialscientists should at least examine the possibility that a school choice rubric that includes private schools couldprovide at least some of the solutions.It is ironic that during one of those times when the virtual monopoly that the U.S. government has in K-12schooling and faith-based schools might help the most, the dominance of public school schools is increasing. Thegrowth of the strength public sector, and in education the dominance of the public schools, has yielded tworealities. First, public schools tend to limit solutions to educational challenges to the public sector with privatereligious schools being almost entirely ignored as potential partners in crafting solutions to problems such as theachievement gap. Second, the increasing relative power of the public schools through taxation is producing afinancial chokehold on many religious private schools. Ironically, with this development American society may betruncating one of its best hopes to reducing the achievement gap.As one would only expect, the private schools under the most acute pressure are usually religious schoolsoperating in some of the poorest sections of the country, e.g., the inner city and in rural areas. According to WhiteHouse estimates between 2000-2006 1,162 inner city faith-based schools were closed and nearly 425,000students lost, mostly due to insufficient funding. By definition, these schools were not founded with the goal ofmaking a profit. This is not only axiomatic, because churches and other faith-based organizations are non-profit,but because efforts to school in these areas are viewed as a divine and altruistic attempt to help those who areless fortunate.Unfortunately, in spite of the harm these school closures are having on those students who need assistance themost, it is very rare to find a public school educator concerned about the health of religious schools. In fact, aplethora of teachers are antagonistic toward Christian schools, for example. Nevertheless, given the findings ofsuch large compilations of data that include meta-analyses and nationwide data sets, it seems that it is time tojettison one’s own biases regarding public vs. private education. Rather, it is time to embrace what is best forchildren.Please read our comments policy before commenting.Note:  This article gives the views of the author, and not the position of USApp– American Politics and Policy, norof the London School of Economics. Shortened URL for this post:  http://bit.ly/1pyL9IA_________________________________________About the authorWilliam Jeynes – California State University, Long BeachWilliam Jeynes is a Professor of Education at California State University, Long Beach. Hisresearch interests cover a wide range of issues that include education, psychology, economics,history, religion, and sociology. His multidisciplinary approach has helped enable him to developspecial relationships with the US and Korean governments. He has done a considerable amountof quantitative and qualitative research on how to bridge the achievement gap, parentalinvolvement, religious commitment, historical trends, school choice, family structure, religiousschools, discrimination, bullying, reading instruction, and public policy. He has written for theWhite House and for both the G.W. Bush and Obama administrations.CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 2014 LSE USAPP

Policymakers should embrace greater school choice to include private and faith schools to address the achievement gap

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