Learning and Student Life Quality of Public and Private School Youth

Conclusions from the 1981 public-private schooling report of Coleman, Hoffer and Kilgore are for the most part unsupported by data from the National Longitudinal Surveys of Youth Labor Market Behavior. With the exception of a slight gain in verbal achieveme'nt for Hispanics in private schools, and a slight gain in vocational achievement for white students in public schools, the sectors do not differ in the amount of learning produced, once the appropriate background and curriculum controls are introduced. Attending Catholic school does slightly raise expected educational attainments. Consistent sector differences do appear in the rated quality of student life-instructional quality, discipline, safety, and peer relations are rated higher in private schools, while learning freedom and job counseling opportunities are rated higher in public schools. The discussion emphasizes the crucial difference between learning and quality of student life as criteria for making policy recommendations.