September 2000
Private School
Students Bolster National Exam Scores
Above Average on SAT
 Hidden
behind the headlines last month about the rise in SAT math scores was
the above-average performance posted by private school students.
Overall, SAT takers from the class of 2000 had an average math score
of 514, the highest in 30 years and an increase of 3 points since last
year. Their average verbal score was 505, a standstill level since 1996.
But when performance is analyzed by type of high school, some significant
differences emerge. Public school scores were 510 math and 501 verbal;
religious school scores were 523 math and 529 verbal, and independent
school scores were 566 math and 547 verbal. The higher private school
scores clearly help lift the national average and may be responsible for
as much as one-third of the overall increase in math scores since last
year.
 Private
schools account for 17 percent of senior SAT takers from traditional schools,
even though they enroll only 9 percent of the nation's 12th graders. The
term "traditional school" does not include home schools, charter
schools, or correspondence schools, which the College Board reports in
a separate catchall category.
The College Board Web site posts private school scores for each year
since 1996. Between that base year and now, combined SAT scores (math
and verbal) have risen 6 points for the nation as a whole, 3 points for
public schools, 17 points for religious schools, and 10 points for independent
schools. In each of the five years, public schools enrolled 83 percent
of college-bound SAT takers from traditional schools; religious schools
enrolled 12 percent, and independent schools 5 percent.
For more information about SAT scores, visit the College
Board Web site.
Above Average on NAEP
Like the two finalists in Survivor, Al Gore and George Bush are pleading
their cases in preparation for the national tribal council's ultimate
decision in November. Among the issues being employed to influence the
outcome, education has emerged as an especially intriguing one, with each
candidate hoping his positions will help win him the political equivalent
of an immunity necklace.
So, when the National Center for Education Statistics last month released
a major report on trends in student performance -- a report that provided
some good news and bad news about the nation's schools -- it was no surprise
that the Bush campaign and the Clinton-Gore administration seized different
details to support different interpretations. Bush, apparently referring
to the stagnant or declining scores in science and reading since 1992,
promised he would "not repeat the mediocrity of the 1990's."
He also denounced the wide achievement gap between black and white students.
Education Secretary Richard Riley, on the other hand, using 1990 rather
than 1992 as the base year, was able to say most scores were up significantly
during the 90's. And he made sure to emphasize the generally consistent
upward trend in math scores since 1973, noting that "for every age
level in 1999, the math scores reached their highest level ever."
Private School Performance
But for all the scrutiny they gave the numerous charts and tables in
the trend report, the campaigns -- and for that matter, the media -- completely
ignored some significant data in the document: that relating to the performance
of students in private schools. It turns out that those students, since
the time NCES first started making public-private test score comparisons,
have consistently scored well above the national average in all three
subject areas (reading, mathematics, and science) at all three age levels
(9, 13, and 17). During the time span covered by the trend assessment,
private school students have outperformed their public school peers by
margins ranging from 11 to 23 points on the National Assessment for Educational
Progress (NAEP) scale. In 1999, the average difference between public
and private school students for all subjects and age levels was 15.4 points,
with a range of 11 to 21, depending on subject area and age level (see
chart). To give some perspective to all of this, Education Department
officials say that an increase of 10 points on the NAEP scale is roughly
equivalent to an increase of one grade level.
 The
report does not relate the public-private performance difference to particular
causes. Indeed, the authors caution readers not to draw conclusions about
the relative effectiveness of public or private schools, noting that differences
in student performance "may reflect a range of socioeconomic and
educational factors not discussed in [the] report." They go on to
point out that the superior private school performance might be explained
by such factors as "per-pupil spending, academic curricula, course-taking
patterns, school climate, and the level of parental aspirations and involvement,"
most of which are school-related.
Given the wide public-private performance gap and the possibility that
at least some of the gap can be explained by school effects, it would
seem reasonable to examine more closely and comprehensively the private
school performance phenomenon.
Come November, voters will decide whether Bush or Gore is the last to
have his Tiki torch extinguished. With education continuing at the top
of the country's list of concerns, and with the performance disparity
continuing between black students and white students, whichever candidate
is the last to survive would do well to support a study of the causes
of private school NAEP achievement. It just might be that what's going
on in these schools can bring about improvement in education across the
board.
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CAPE Symposium
on Funding for School Choice
 In
the same city where 75 years ago the Supreme Court ruled that parents
have the right to choose religious and independent schools, CAPE sponsored
a symposium this summer to explore ways to make that abstract right a
practical reality for all parents, regardless of income. Four experts
on private education addressed the topic "Government Funding for
School Choice: The Legacy of Pierce" in a discussion that,
coincidentally, took place just 12 days after the high court handed down
yet another decision of potentially historic significance for private
education, Mitchell v. Helms.
Lead-off speaker Burt Carney, director of legal and legislative issues
for the Association of Christian Schools International, presented his
organization's policies regarding tuition tax credits and vouchers "that
further parental involvement and choice in education." Carney said
ACSI supports legislation that provides aid to parents, rather than schools,
and does not restrict schools in matters such as educational philosophy,
operational policies, staff selection, curriculum content, and student
admission. To win ACSI's approval, such legislation should also "require
participating schools to be nondiscriminatory on the basis of race, sex,
color, or national and ethnic origin." Employing these criteria,
ACSI currently supports voucher ballot initiatives in California and Michigan.
Next Logical Step
While praising the Pierce decision's affirmation of the right
of parents to direct the education of their children, Carney noted that
the court did not take what he called "the next logical step"
of providing some assistance to parents who choose alternative schools.
He said the fact that "most low-income families are left with no
choice at all" is an issue of social inequity and public justice
that "needs to be addressed."
Striking a similar note, Leonard DeFiore, president of the National Catholic
Educational Association, said that implicit in the Supreme Court's recognition
of the right of parents to educate their children is the responsibility
of government to support that right. "Fundamental rights and duties
are meaningless if the powerless can't exercise them," he said.
Liberty and Justice
Referring to the "liberty and justice" phrase from the Pledge
of Allegiance, DeFiore said that Pierce secured "the liberty
part, but what we continue to struggle for is the justice part."
His message was direct. "The question before the American people
is whether the poor will be provided the same ability as the affluent
to choose a suitable school for their children." The issue, he said,
is a moral one: "The moral culpability of those who oversee the current
inequities in American education and...choose to ignore them...is substantial,
and we all know it."
Picking up on DeFiore's "liberty and justice" theme, Charles
Glenn, a professor at Boston University and author of The Ambiguous
Embrace, reminded the group that opponents of school choice invoke
the same ideals -- liberty and justice -- to argue the other side. He
said some educational elites argue, as did Plato, that society is best
served if children are disconnected from the influences of their parents
and raised by enlightened experts. Their most powerful metaphor for the
teacher, he said, is that of emancipator, liberating children from tradition,
family, and religion, and helping students become autonomous. The challenge
for school choice advocates is to persuade the public "that justice
and liberty are best served by allowing for educational freedom"
-- the freedom to establish alternative schools and also the freedom to
choose those schools.
Glenn said the United States is "the only Western democracy, except
Italy, that does not provide public funding for religious schools that
parents choose."
Turning to recent Supreme Court decisions, David Zwiebel, executive vice
president of Agudath Israel of America, hailed Mitchell v. Helms,
which upheld the provision of instructional materials and equipment to
students in religious schools, as a "harbinger of where the court
will ultimately come down on the question of vouchers." But Zwiebel
pointed out that on the same day it ruled on Helms, the court handed
down Boy Scouts of America v. Dale, which held that requiring the
Boy Scouts to accept an avowed homosexual as a member and leader violated
the organization's First Amendment rights.
Strings Attached
Zwiebel said one of the factors in the court's decision was the fact
that the Boy Scouts organization was not a recipient of government funds.
He wondered whether receipt of government funding would have resulted
in an abridgement by the court of the organization's right to establish
independent criteria for membership and leadership. "There's no question,"
he said, "that when government funds are involved, strings are often
attached."
But while some people use the threat of potential government regulation
as an argument against any form of government assistance, Zwiebel said
he rejects that argument, noting "ample precedents" in which
government funds leave institutions free to practice religious faith as
they see fit. Various laws clearly provide the opportunity to both "receive
the equitable benefits of government funds and nonetheless retain one's
identity as a religious institution," he said.
CAPE's panel discussion took place on the eve of the U.S. Department
of Education's two-day conference to commemorate the 75th anniversary
of the Pierce decision. Summaries of the many excellent presentations
at the Department's conference will be available soon on the USDE
Web site.
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Largest
Adventist Teacher Conference in History
In the largest gathering of Adventist educators in history, more than
6,000 teachers and family members converged on Dallas, TX, last month
for the church's first-ever division-wide teachers convention in North
America. Part professional development, part spiritual renewal, and part
family reunion, the meeting managed to attract about three-quarters of
the North American Division's K-12 teachers and administrators.
 The
list of featured presenters for the four-day event read like a who's-who
of motivational speakers, from futurist Leland Kaiser to educational theorist
William Glasser to classroom manager Harry Wong. Top church officials
also addressed the group, including Jan Paulsen, president of the General
Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, and Don Schneider, president of
the North American Division, both stalwarts of the church's school ministry.
Dr. Kaiser, an associate professor at the Graduate School of Business
Administration at the University of Colorado, invited Adventist educators
to become "paradigm busters," people who think differently about
the future and challenge old ways. One paradigm that should go, he said,
is the notion that teachers must teach. They instead should define their
job as facilitating,coaching, mentoring, and encouraging students in self-directed
learning. The teacher's ultimate aim should be to help children discover
and become what God intends them to be, he said.
Kaiser urged the church to use technology to share resources and harness
collective wisdom. Students across the country should be able to link
to master teachers in any subject area, and teachers should collaborate
in curriculum development. "Our strength is in connectivity,"
he said.
Kaiser also made pitches for tapping the experience and energy of retired
members of the community, providing opportunities for the professional
and spiritual renewal of teachers, and involving schools more fully in
community social justice causes like fighting poverty and prejudice. "Schools
should be a community resource as well as a church resource," he
said.
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CAPENotes
• A new study from Harvard University has found that African-American
students who used privately funded vouchers to switch from public to private
schools in Dayton, Ohio, New York City, and Washington, D.C., performed
significantly higher on standardized tests than a control group that remained
in public schools.
After two years, the voucher students outscored the control group by
an average of 6.3 national percentile points, an advantage that translates
into 0.33 standard deviations, or one-third of the average national difference
between the test scores of black students and white students. The positive
effects of school vouchers led the report's authors to this promising
declaration: "Given the widespread concern about racial differences
in academic performance, our research is particularly salient in that
it suggests that school voucher programs may have the capacity to shrink
the black-white test-score gap for participating students."
The complete report is available on the Web site of Harvard's
Program on Education Policy and Governance.
• New York City Schools Chancellor Harold Levy announced last month
what may be the country's first salary incentive program expressly designed
to entice private school teachers to teach in public schools.
The program increases the salary cap for certified teachers with experience
outside the New York City system who agree to teach in designated low-performing
schools. A teacher with a master's degree, formerly limited to a starting
salary of about $39,000, would earn approximately $48,000 under the new
program.
The chancellor said the program would help religious and independent
school teachers "do the work they love without having to make a financial
sacrifice."
When private school officials complained that the program might tempt
teachers to engage in unethical conduct by breaking contracts for the
coming year, Levy replied, "Under no circumstances would I condone
or encourage unprofessional or unethical conduct." He did not, however,
say that under no circumstances would the city hire teachers who were,
in fact, currently under contract.
• Teachers in private or public schools serving high-need areas
would be eligible for up to $5,000 in college loan forgiveness under new
rules proposed last month by the U.S. Department of Education. But the
rules, designed to implement provisions in the Higher Education Amendments
of 1998, would not take effect until July 1, 2001, at the earliest.
Under the proposed rules, a teacher must be a new borrower in the FFEL
program or the Direct Student Loan program on or after October 1, 1998.
Loans may cover the cost of graduate or undergraduate work. A teacher
is eligible after five years of consecutive teaching in a low-income public
or private school if at least one year of the teaching years is 1998-99
or later.
For a school to be designated as low-income, more than 30 percent of
the total enrollment must qualify for services provided under Title I
and the school must be listed in the Annual Directory of Designated Low-Income
Schools for Teacher Cancellation Benefits. For a list of schools currently
designated, click
here, to visit the appropriate page on the USDE Web site.
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