Achievement Trends Over Time: Exploring Student Achievement Between Catholic and Public Education

• In Event: Current Issues in Catholic K-12 Schools

Abstract

Education is always at the forefront of political issues being discussed among the American public. Parents, politicians, and educators are always striving to improve our country’s educational system. This has led to discussions regarding the efficiency of instruction methods. Often at the center of this discussion is the debate between public and private education, in particular Catholic education, related to achievement. In thinking about this, we examine the Bryke and Lee study on Catholic and public school data and see if we can repeat their findings from the 1980’s with a more recent adaptation of the data focusing on comparing education in a private Catholic setting versus the public setting overtime, in particular achievement and the achievement gap.

Authors

• Honey Hengameh Ghods, Michigan State University

• Brian Joseph Boggs, Michigan State University

• Daniel Clark, Michigan State University