Every parent wants what is best for his or her child. Though parents do not have control over everything in their child's development, they do have some control over their education. A person's education is one of the most important factors in determining whether or not they will become a productive member of society. Because education is so important, what kind of education is best? We need to look at both public and private schools to find out if there is a difference. The debate over which is better is a battle that has gone on since private schools were first introduced as an option for our children’s education. It seems most people are of the opinion that private schools are superior. However, this may not be the case. How do we determine the superiority of a school? This very difficult question has no simple answer. The most efficient way that we can assess and compute the value of our schools is by evaluating their achievement. A schools achievement is commonly referred to as an improvement in overall academic excellence in the classroom. Many researchers will use achievement tests and SAT scores to form guidelines for these calculations. Studies have shown that SAT scores compared between public and private schools find that, once accounting for certain variables, public high schools appear to perform better than private high schools, at least with respect to SAT math attainment. However, studies also show students from private schools perform considerably better on all tests, than do the students from public schools. But are SAT scores and achievement tests all that we see to be important when judging a school. What about the things we can’t determine in black and white? Many parents, especially those with children that have attended private schools, would argue that achievement is only part of the big picture. They ask the questions like, “What other kind of education can the school p...
