Difference in Literacy between Private and Public Schools: Evidence from a Survey of 61 Economies

Abstract

Recent research in the United States suggests that student performance differences between private and public schools disappear once student and school level characteristics are controlled for. This is an important result as it suggests that in the absence of such differences delivery of education through public means can be as efficient as that through private means. However, given the often significant variation in economic, social, and political systems across countries, generalization of recent U.S. results to the rest of the world may not be appropriate. The current study bridges this gap in the literature by examining the private versus public school difference in literacy in key areas such as mathematics, reading, and science using recent comparable nationally representative samples from 61 economies. Our findings suggest that most economies have significant private-public school performance gaps, and for many economies these differences persist even after controlling for student and school level characteristics such as age, gender, grade, socioeconomic status, disability status, school size, and student-teacher ratio. Implications are discussed.