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Explaining the Performance Gap Between Public and Private School Students

Author Info

Listed author(s):
  • Kevin C. Duncan

    ()

    (Colorado State University - Pueblo)

  • Jonathan Sandy

    (University of San Diego)

Abstract

Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Labor Market Experience for Youth are used to estimate the private school test score advantage. Regression results indicate that those who attend private schools score higher on the Armed Forces Qualifications Test. However, this advantage loses statistical significance with controls for family and school background. Decomposition of the private-public test score difference indicates that 78 percent of the gap can be explained by differences in average characteristics. Broken down further, 45 percent of the gap is due to differences in family background and 26 percent is due to differences in school quality.

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File URL: http://web.holycross.edu/RePEc/eej/Archive/Volume33/V33N2P177_191.pdf
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Article provided by Eastern Economic Association in its journal Eastern Economic Journal.

Volume (Year): 33 (2007)
Issue (Month): 2 (Spring)
Pages: 177-191

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Handle: RePEc:eej:eeconj:v:33:y:2007:i:2:p:177-191
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  1. Anne Case & Angus Deaton, 1999. "School Inputs and Educational Outcomes in South Africa," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 114(3), pages 1047-1084.
  2. Hanushek, Eric A., 2002. "Publicly provided education," Handbook of Public Economics,in: A. J. Auerbach & M. Feldstein (ed.), Handbook of Public Economics, edition 1, volume 4, chapter 30, pages 2045-2141 Elsevier.
  3. Levin, Henry M., 1991. "The economics of educational choice," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 10(2), pages 137-158, June.
  4. Oaxaca, Ronald, 1973. "Male-Female Wage Differentials in Urban Labor Markets," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 14(3), pages 693-709, October.
  5. William Sander, 1996. "Catholic Grade Schools and Academic Achievement," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 31(3), pages 540-548.
  6. Alan S. Blinder, 1973. "Wage Discrimination: Reduced Form and Structural Estimates," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 8(4), pages 436-455.
  7. Barnard J. & Frangakis C.E. & Hill J.L. & Rubin D.B., 2003. "Principal Stratification Approach to Broken Randomized Experiments: A Case Study of School Choice Vouchers in New York City," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 98, pages 299-323, January.
  8. Alan B. Krueger, 2003. "Economic Considerations and Class Size," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 113(485), pages 34-63, February.
  9. Witte, John F., 1992. "Private school versus public school achievement: Are there findings that should affect the educational choice debate?," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 371-394, December.
  10. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Publishing House "SINERGIA PRESS", vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
  11. O'Neill, June, 1990. "The Role of Human Capital in Earnings Differences between Black and White Men," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 4(4), pages 25-45, Fall.
  12. Barry R. Chiswick, 1988. "Differences in Education and Earnings Across Racial and Ethnic Groups: Tastes, Discrimination, and Investments in Child Quality," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 103(3), pages 571-597.
  13. Joshua D. Angrist & Victor Lavy, 1999. "Using Maimonides' Rule to Estimate the Effect of Class Size on Scholastic Achievement," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 114(2), pages 533-575.
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Cited by:

  1. Reilee L. Berger & John V. Winters, 2016. "Does Private Schooling Increase Adult Earnings? Cohort-Level Evidence for U.S. States," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 46(3), pages 281-294, Winter.
  2. Kevin Duncan & Jonathan Sandy, 2013. "Using the Blinder-Oaxaca Decomposition Method to Measure Racial Bias in Achievement Tests," The Review of Black Political Economy, Springer;National Economic Association, vol. 40(2), pages 185-206, June.
  3. Botezat Alina, 2012. "Decomposing The Gap In School Achievement Between Finland And Romania '" Some Methodological Aspects," Annals of Faculty of Economics, University of Oradea, Faculty of Economics, vol. 1(2), pages 165-171, December.
  4. Alina Botezat & Ruben R. Seiberlich, 2013. "Educational performance gaps in Eastern Europe," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 21(4), pages 731-756, October.
  5. Debra Shepherd, 2013. "A question of efficiency: decomposing South African reading test scores using PIRLS 2006," Working Papers 20/2013, Stellenbosch University, Department of Economics.
  6. Gevrek, Z. Eylem & Seiberlich, Ruben R., 2014. "Semiparametric decomposition of the gender achievement gap: An application for Turkey," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 27-44.

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