Comparing Private Schools & Public Schools Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling

This study compares the mean 2003 National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) reading and mathematics scores of public and private schools in fourth and eighth 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). In grades Four and Eight, using unadjusted mean scores, students in private schools scored significantly higher than students in public schools for both reading and mathematics. But when school means were adjusted in the analysis, the average for public schools was significantly higher than the average for private schools for fourth grade mathematics but not significantly different for reading.