<p>ellemenope - I don’t think there is any comparison. The private schools really outperform their public counterparts. See the cite below for one such summary.</p>
<p>Study: “Graduation Rates for Choice and Public School Students in Milwaukee”</p>
<p>Author/Source: Jay P. Greene, research report (School Choice Wisconsin, 2004)</p>
<p>Findings: Compared Milwaukee public school graduation rates with those of low-income participants in the citys private-school voucher program. Greene found that the voucher students were more than one-and-a-half-times as likely to graduate as the public school students [echoing Neals findings, above, except not limited to minority students]. More remarkable still, Greene found this graduation rate advantage existed even when he compared the voucher students to those attending Milwaukees elite group of academically selective public schools. </p>
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<p>In fairness, I think there is a huge selection bias in the private school population. Those kids are at the private parochial schools because they in one way or another have parents that care - which, let’s face it, irrespective of any social program or redistribution of wealth scheme is the thing that matters most above all in any child’s development. Combine that with very obvious IQ differences amongst and between certain groups, and one begins to get closer to the root of the problem in American education, which of course rarely gets mentioned in a politically correct environment. </p>
<p>Private schools also can quickly kick disruptive or unruly students out - and their presence is one of the surest ways to destroy a learning environment. This of course makes a much better learning environment for all, and ends the tyranny of the ill behaved minority in those private schools. </p>
<p>Obama is not against vouchers because of any deep philosophical disagreement with them. He is against them because they are a huge threat to the public education bureaucracy and teachers unions. Milwaukee’s experience and results scare the living heck out of these types. And public sector employees above all else are the bedrock of the Democratic Party. Obama needs to look out for them, and surely will. Children are just fodder in that debate. </p>
<p>Look, we are all in favor of a strong public school system. And I don’t like the notion that the public schools in inner cities will be educating the cast-offs no one else wants. But when the public school systems in so many large cities - Detroit, DC, New York, Chicago, New Orleans, Newark and the LAUSD - pump out so many troubled and ill educated people notwithstanding that, in sharp contrast to years past, more money is being spent in these places than ever, there has to be a point where caring parents have to be given a choice. They cannot be punished for living in a poor neighborhood with a lousy, dangerous public schools system, especially when the parochial schools can succeed at a fraction of the cost. </p>
<p>Look for this administration to somehow curtail the Milwaukee program. It is kryptonite to very established special interests.</p>