Catholic-School Effects on Academic Achievement
New Evidence from the High School and Beyond Follow-Up Study
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 2544486 |
|---|---|
| Authors | J Douglas Willms (0009-0003-1017-1401, NHS Education for Scotland, corresponding author) |
| Year | 1985 |
| Volume | 58 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 98 |
| Publication date | 1985-04-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Sociology of Education (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0038-0407 • E-ISSN: 1939-8573 |
| Publisher | JSTOR (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.2307/2112250 |
| OpenAlex | W2052227276 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 41 |
| References cited | 7 |
This study compares the growth in academic achievement of publicand Catholic-school students during their last two years of high school. The study uses the High School and Beyond data on over 20,000 students who participated in the 1980 base-year study and the 1982 follow-up study. Previous studies of publicand private-school effectiveness, including the controversial Coleman, Hoffer, and Kilgore (1981) study, have been limited to the 1980 cross-sectional data, which do not include information on student ability prior to entering high school. The follow-up data enable a comparison of the growth in achievement on outcome measures that were specifically designedfor that purpose. I estimated Catholic-school effects with four different statistical models. Each model regresses senior test scores on sophomore pretest scores; sophomore test scores in reading, vocabulary, and general mathematics; and a set of background variables describing student characteristics andfamily background. Three of the models include background measures from previously published studies; the fourth model is a parsimonious model including only the most important control variables. I conducted several subsidiary analyses to ensure that the results were not substantially biased due to such factors as the method of handling missing data, the differential dropout rate between the two sectors, and the ceiling effects on the outcome measures. I also examined the extent to which the achievement tests were valid indicators of student growth in academic achievement. The results suggest that there are no pervasive Catholic-school effects. Public schools had a small advantage in science and civics; Catholic schools had an advantage in reading, vocabulary, mathematics, and writing. All of the effects were very small: On average, the Catholic-school advantage was only about 5 percent of a standard deviation. However, the analyses also suggest that the tests are relatively poor measures of academic growth during the junior and senior years of high school. Therefore, we cannot be certain that the tests are sensitive enough to detect differences that might exist between public and Catholic schools in their effects on student achievement
Academic achievement · Advanced Placement · Mathematics education · Pedagogy · Sociology · Sociology of Education · Psychology · School Choice and Performance
Capital at Home and at School
Sociology of Education
Effects of single-sex secondary schools on student achievement and attitudes.
Student Achievement in Public Magnet, Public Comprehensive, and Private City High Schools
The Demands of Liberal Education
Social Background and Achievement in Public and Catholic High Schools
Five Dimensions of Social Capital Theory as they Pertain to Youth Studies
Bringing the schools back in
The empty opportunity
Achievement Growth in Public and Catholic Schools
School vouchers and academic performance
Family and school capital explaining regional variation in math and reading achievement
Building Bonding and Bridging Capital through the ‘China Club’
High School Order and Academic Achievement
Public, Catholic Single-Sex, and Catholic Coeducational High Schools
A Diagnostic Routine for the Detection of Consequential Heterogeneity of Causal Effects
The Variable Effects of High School Tracking
Effects of Ability Grouping in British Secondary Schools
The Distribution of Dropout and Turnover Rates among Urban and Suburban High Schools
Counterfactuals, Causal Effect Heterogeneity, and the Catholic School Effect on Learning
Catholic Schooling and Self-Discipline
A Meta-Analysis on the Effects and Contributions of Public, Public Charter, and Religious Schools on Student Outcomes
Social inequality in Catholic schools in Scotland in the second half of the twentieth century
Educational Stratification and Students’ Social Bonding to School
Two Models of Teacher Accountability
Enduring Cognitive Effects of Public and Private Schools
School Choice
Comprehensive Urban High School
A Meta-Analysis of the Effects of Attending Religious Schools and Religiosity on Black and Hispanic Academic Achievement
Effectiveness of School Choice
Test Scores, Dropout Rates, and Transfer Rates as Alternative Indicators of High School Performance
Failure of High-Ability High Schools to Deliver Academic Benefits Commensurate With Their Students’ Ability Levels
School Sector and Academic Achievement
Barriers to high-school completion among immigrant and later-generation Latinos in the USA
École publique, école privée Comparaison des trajectoires et de la réussite scolaires
Achievement and Social Ascription
A Comparison of Academic Achievement and Adherence to the Common School Ideal in Public and Catholic Schools
School Sector and Student Achievement in the Era of Standards Based Reforms
Capital at Home and at School
Are There Catholic School Effects in Ontario, Canada
Ethnic differences in the academic attainment process in Australia
Response to Taeuber-James, Cain-Goldberger and Morgan
A growth curve approach to the measurement of change
Public and Private Schools Revisited
Private Schools and Public Policy
The Causal Analysis of Cognitive Outcomes in the Coleman, Hoffer and Kilgore Report
The Cognitive Tests for High School and Beyond
Control and Differentiation in the Structure of American Education
| Unique citing works | 41 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1 |
| Citation span | 1985 - 2025 (41) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 40 |