ABSTRACT
Th is chapter reviews theoretical perspectives on private schooling in the United States and empirical evidence from national surveys on schooling outcome diff erences between public and private school students. Th ese theories relate to explanations of why families select private schools and to expectations about outcome diff erences (or their absence) between private and public school students. Th e theories are cast in terms of competitive markets, the communities in which the schools are embedded, and the historically-institutionalized purposes of the schools. Th e main points from the review of empirical research using nationally representative samples of schools and their students are as follows: (1) Private (Catholic and other private) school students on average score much higher than public school students on standardized tests at both the elementary and secondary grade levels. (2) Most of the public-private test score diff erences are associated with the more advantaged social and economic backgrounds of private school students. However, Catholic (but not other private) high schools have positive eff ects on verbal and mathematics achievement, even controlling for student background. (3) Th e main factor accounting for the Catholic high school eff ects is the greater concentration of academic course-taking among Catholic school students.
