Today, a parent's right to choose a private education for his or her children is reflected in the statutes of all 50 states. State regulation of private schools, however, is not without limitations. The challenge to state legislators in regulating private schools is to draft legislation that: (1) respects the fundamental right of parents to direct the education of their children; (2) protects the states' interest in an informed citizenry but avoids interference with religious beliefs unless compelling interests are at issue; and (3) avoids comprehensive regulation of private education that would deprive parents of any choice in education. This handbook presents findings of a study, initiated by the Office of Nonpublic Education, U.S. Department of Education, that conducted a state-by-state analysis of state laws regulating private education. The study, which includes all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia, identified the following general areas of regulation advanced by state legislators: recordkeeping and reports, licensing/registration/accreditation, health and safety, curriculum, and public funding. The data show that none of the states regulates private schools in the same way. The report contains comparison charts depicting state oversight of private schools, state-mandated educational requirements, and public assistance to private schools and private school children. (LMI)

Americans choose from a dizzying array of schools, loosely categorized as "public" and "private." How did these distinctions emerge, and what do they tell us about the relationship in the United States between public authority and private enterprise? Challenged by the rise of Catholic and other parochial schools in the nineteenth century, states sought to protect the public school monopoly through regulation. Ultimately, however, Robert N. Gross shows how the public policies that resulted produced a stable educational marketplace, where choice flourished.

Today, a parent's right to choose a private education for his or her children is reflected in the statutes of all 50 states. State regulation of private schools, however, is not without limitations. The challenge to state legislators in regulating private schools is to draft legislation that: (1) respects the fundamental right of parents to direct the education of their children; (2) protects the states' interest in an informed citizenry but avoids interference with religious beliefs unless compelling interests are at issue; and (3) avoids comprehensive regulation of private education that would deprive parents of any choice in education. This handbook presents findings of a study, initiated by the Office of Nonpublic Education, U.S. Department of Education, that conducted a state-by-state analysis of state laws regulating private education. The study, which includes all 50 states, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia, identified the following general areas of regulation advanced by state legislators: recordkeeping and reports, licensing/registration/accreditation, health and safety, curriculum, and public funding. The data show that none of the states regulates private schools in the same way. The report contains comparison charts depicting state oversight of private schools, state-mandated educational requirements, and public assistance to private schools and private school children. (LMI)

This book examines case studies of eight public and eight private schools that investigated different identifiable and transferable private school practices that public schools could adopt to improve student outcomes. Data came from interviews with administrators, teachers, parents, and students from diverse schools. Chapter 1, "Accountability to Parents," discusses resistance to parents, structural limits to parent accountability, managing participation at parochial schools, lower-income parent participation, cases of formal accountability to parents, and observations about accountability to parents. Chapter 2, "Clarity of Goals and Expectations," discusses the religious character of parochial schools, broader educational goals versus testable outcomes, anchoring expectations in scripture, and clarity of goals. Chapter 3, "Behavioral and Value Objectives," discusses different approaches to discipline and the teaching of ethical and religious values in public and private schools. Chapter 4, "Clear Standards for Teacher Selection and Retention," includes faculty collegiality, hiring standards and teacher quality, formal and informal teacher evaluation, teacher retention and dismissal, and observations on selection and retention. Chapter 5, "Similarity of Curriculum Materials," discusses formal curricular similarities. Chapter 6 discusses "Competitive Improvements." Chapter 7, "Conclusions," suggests that similarities between public and private schools and the problems they face outweigh the differences. Differences are determined mainly by parent socioeconomic and cultural factors. Case study descriptions are appended. (Contains 17 references.) (SM)

Private Schools and Student Media: Support Mission, Students, and Community explores the activities of student media outlets, content creators and advisers in K–12 private schools in the United States. The unique nature of private schools, separate from government funding but not all government oversight, creates its own opportunities and challenges for students seeking their own outlets to pursue questions, answers and voice. Through surveys and content analysis of schools, student media advisers and student media work, Erica Salkin explores the reality of censorship in private schools—where the First Amendment does not play the same role as in public schools—and the perspectives of teachers who dedicate time, effort, and expertise to make the learning laboratory of the student newspaper or yearbook a reality. Ultimately, this book proposes that student media can be a significant asset to a private school’s mission, students, and school community: to prepare young people for lives of service and good citizenship. Scholars of communication, media studies, journalism, and education will find this book particularly useful.

During the 1980s, widespread dissatisfaction with America's schools gave rise to a powerful movement for educational change, and the nation's political institutions responded with aggressive reforms. Chubb and Moe argue that these reforms are destined to fail because they do not get to the root of the problem. The fundamental causes of poor academic performance, they claim, are not to be found in the schools, but rather in the institutions of direct democratic control by which the schools have traditionally been governed. Reformers fail to solve the problem-when the institutions ARE the problem. The authors recommend a new system of public education, built around parent-student choice and school competition, that would promote school autonomy—thus providing a firm foundation for genuine school improvement and superior student achievement.

"Examines the relationship between private education and public policy in Latin America by combining conceptual analysis with empirical research, and incorporating case studies from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Peru, and Venezuela"--Provided by publisher.

Why do private boarding schools produce such a disproportionate number of leaders in business, government, and the arts? In the most comprehensive study of its kind to date, two sociologists describe the complex ways in which elite schools prepare students for success and power, and they also provide a lively behind-the-scenes look at prep–school life and underlife.

This Brief reviews the past, present, and future use of school corporal punishment in the United States, a practice that remains legal in 19 states as it is constitutionally permitted according to the U.S. Supreme Court. As a result of school corporal punishment, nearly 200,000 children are paddled in schools each year. Most Americans are unaware of this fact or the physical injuries sustained by countless school children who are hit with objects by school personnel in the name of discipline. Therefore, Corporal Punishment in U.S. Public Schools begins by summarizing the legal basis for school corporal punishment and trends in Americans’ attitudes about it. It then presents trends in the use of school corporal punishment in the United States over time to establish its past and current prevalence. It then discusses what is known about the effects of school corporal punishment on children, though with so little research on this topic, much of the relevant literature is focused on parents’ use of corporal punishment with their children. It also provides results from a policy analysis that examines the effect of state-level school corporal punishment bans on trends in juvenile crime. It concludes by discussing potential legal, policy, and advocacy avenues for abolition of school corporal punishment at the state and federal levels as well as summarizing how school corporal punishment is being used and what its potential implications are for thousands of individual students and for the society at large. As school corporal punishment becomes more and more regulated at the state level, Corporal Punishment in U.S. Public Schools serves an essential guide for policymakers and advocates across the country as well as for researchers, scientist-practitioners, and graduate students.