Explaining Differences in Academic Behavior Between Public-School and Catholic-School Students: A Quantitative Case Study

This paper presents a quantitative case study of the differences in academic behavior between publicand Catholic-school students. Using numerous measures of behavior, attitudes, and perceptions, Ifound that Catholic-school students differedfrom public-school students only in behavior that could be directly influenced by school practice: The Catholic-school students skipped school less often and spent more time on homework despite their greater nonconformity to other expectations. A school-effects model is more successful than competing models in predicting such specific differences. Prior-socialization, motivation, and parental-constraint models imply differences in a w'ide range of behaviors and attitudes. The most parsimonious explanation of the pattern of findings presented here is that academic differences between publicand Catholic-school students are due to the greater discipline and more rigorous requirements in the Catholic schools.