Nonpublic1 (Private) Schools and the Nation's Report Card
Why Is Participation of Nonpublic Schools in NAEP Important?Nonpublic schools represent 24 percent of schools in the nation and educate nearly 11 percent of the students. In order to have a complete picture of the academic progress of the nation's students, students in both public and nonpublic schools must participate in NAEP. What Types of Nonpublic School Results Are Reported?NAEP selects samples representing the broad spectrum of nonpublic schools at grades 4, 8, and 12. Several different breakdowns by type of school are available, depending on assessment year and jurisdiction. (Note that Bureau of Indian Education schools and Department of Defense schools may be reported along with these nonpublic schools.) Results for students in nonpublic schools are reported as a national average, since the numbers of nonpublic school students asked to participate are too small to produce reliable results if reported for each participating state. To see results, you may use NAEP Data Explorer's "public or nonpublic school" variables under Major Reporting Groups, or nonpublic school results may be seen from the links below. Reports on Student Performance in Private SchoolsTo better understand student performance in private schools in comparison to public schools, NAEP released two reports. The first report, Student Achievement in Private Schools, examined performance of students attending private schools in reading, mathematics, science, and writing in 2000, 2002, 2003, and 2005. Specifically, it focuses on the three private school types enrolling the greatest proportion of private school students (Catholic, Lutheran, and Conservative Christian) as well as private schools overall. It compares the performance of students in these schools to that of public school students. In a second report, Comparing Private Schools and Public Schools Using Hierarchical Linear Modeling, differences between mean NAEP scores in reading and mathematics were examined when taking into account several student and/or school characteristics. A summary of the series of reports on private schools is available on this website in our Special Studies section. How Are Nonpublic Schools Selected for Participation?For each NAEP assessment, a sample of nonpublic schools is selected from the Private School Universe Survey (PSS). The PSS collects and stores data on more than 30,000 nonpublic schools in the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The number of nonpublic schools sampled for NAEP changes from year to year depending on the assessment. However, the number of students per subject per grade typically remains the same—30 students in each school. Specific numbers of nonpublic schools and students that were both selected and that participated in past assessments can be found in the individual NAEP report cards for each subject. To ensure that the results reported for major student groups at the national level are accurate, oversampling (i.e., sampling particular types of schools at a higher rate than they appear in the population) is necessary. Results for Nonpublic Schools in NAEP AssessmentsResults for nonpublic schools can be examined through the NAEP Data Explorer (NDE). To get an overview of results by the type of school variable ("public or nonpublic school"), follow the links below. For each NAEP assessment, private school data are collected and are included in the overall results. For some subjects and years, however, the participation rates did not meet NCES standards for reporting private school results as a separate category; consequently, private school results at grade 12 in 2005 mathematics and reading and in 2006 civics, economics, and U.S. history could not be reported. Results can be reported only if at least 70% of schools in the sample participate. Note that for some of the results below, you will need to download a free SVG plug-in for your browser in order to view the graphs in the NAEP Data Explorer (NDE). Once you have viewed a graph in the NDE, you can explore the data further. Just make any selection on that screen, and then a pop-up with the NCES Data Usage Agreement will appear. Click “I agree…” and you will be in the NDE with all its functions available to you. Civics
Geography
Mathematics
Reading
Science
Writing
U.S. History
Long-Term Trend Mathematics and Reading Assessments NAEP long-term trend (LTT) assessments give information on the changes in mathematics and reading performance of America's youth since the early 1970s. They are administered nationally every four years (but are not reported at the state or district levels) to students aged 9, 13, and 17. Cautions in Interpreting NAEP ResultsNAEP assessment results make it possible to examine relationships between students' academic performance and the varied background information collected by NAEP. A relationship that exists between achievement and another variable, however, does not reveal its underlying cause, which may be influenced by a number of other variables. Simple or causal inferences related to, for example, student group membership, the effectiveness of public and nonpublic schools, and state- or district-level education systems cannot be drawn using NAEP results. 1. In the main NAEP assessments, the term "nonpublic schools" refers primarily to private schools. Also, there is a class of schools that is often reported along with the private schools; these are federally funded schools (that is, schools not supported by state or local governments), including the Bureau of Indian Education (BIE) schools and Department of Defense (DoD) domestic and overseas schools. The BIE and DoD schools are not reported in either the public or nonpublic categories, but they are included in the overall national results for main NAEP assessments. BIE and DoD schools account for fewer than 1 percent of the nation's students. (Note that for the NAEP long-term trend assessments, BIE and DoD schools are selected for the sample only occasionally; when there is a sampled school in this category, it is reported in the long-term trend results in the "nonpublic" category with the private schools.)
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