Fundamentalist Religious Schools Lag Behind Public Schools in Math

One of the big selling points in sending one’s children to private school in the US is a perception that they will learn better there. A report from the US Department of Education issued last Friday, however, casts some doubt on that idea. The study found that kids at public schools do as well or better than private schools generally, and that students at fundamentalist Christian schools actually lag in math.

The methodology is best described by the report authors themselves: “This study compares mean 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading and mathematics scores of public and private schools in 4th and 8th grades, statistically controlling for individual student characteristics (such as gender, race/ethnicity, disability status, identification as an English language learner) and school characteristics (such as school size, location, and the composition of the student body).” The results show, “when school means were adjusted in the HLM analysis [Hierarchical Linear Modeling}, the average for public schools was significantly higher than the average for private schools for grade 4 mathematics and not significantly different for reading. At grade 8, the average for private schools was significantly higher than the average for public schools in reading but not significantly different for mathematics.” In other words, public schools have an advantage in early math skills, which private schools erase by 8th grade, and the two start even in reading, but private schools develop an advantage in junior high literacy.

Where this gets truly interesting is in dividing up the religious private schools from the more secular variety. “In grade 4, Catholic and Lutheran schools were compared separately to public schools. For both reading and mathematics, the results were similar to those based on all private schools. In grade 8, Catholic, Lutheran, and Conservative Christian schools were each compared to public schools. For Catholic and Lutheran schools for both reading and mathematics, the results were again similar to those based on all private schools. For Conservative Christian schools, the average adjusted school mean in reading was not significantly different from that of public schools. In mathematics, the average adjusted school mean for Conservative Christian schools was significantly lower than that of public schools.”

Leaving aside for a moment that some Catholic parishes and some Lutheran churches are arch-conservative (Opus Dei folk among the former, Missouri and Wisconsin Synod among the latter), this shows that there is a definite weakness in the Christian fundamentalist schools. What is a parent to do? Send the little dears to public school through at least fourth grade and switch to a private school before 8th grade, and above all else, don’t send them to the conservative Christian schools. They won't learn Darwinian biology there either.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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