Fast Facts: Public and private school comparison (55)

Public and private school comparison

Question:
In what ways do public and private schools differ?

Response:

Below are a few selected dimensions that highlight some of the ways public and private schools differ.

Public School Enrollment

Between fall 2012 and fall 2022, the percentage of public school students who were Hispanic increased from 24 to 29 percent. The percentage of public school students who were White decreased from 51 to 44 percent, and the percentage of students who were Black decreased from 16 to 15 percent.

Of the 49.6 million students enrolled in public elementary and secondary schools in fall 2022,¹

22.1 million were White;
14.4 million were Hispanic;
7.4 million were Black;
2.7 million were Asian;
2.5 million were of Two or more races;
449,000 were American Indian/Alaska Native; and
182,000 were Pacific Islander.

This Fast Fact examines how the racial/ethnic distribution of public school students has varied over time as well as differences in the racial/ethnic composition of the schools students attend.^2, ³

Between fall 2012 and fall 2022, there was a decrease in the percentages of students who were

White (from 51 to 44 percent);
Black (from 16 to 15 percent); and
American Indian/Alaska Native (from 1.1 to 0.9 percent).

During this same time period, there was an increase in the percentage of students who were

Hispanic (from 24 to 29 percent);
Asian (from 4.8 to 5.5 percent); and
of Two or more races (from 3 to 5 percent).

In both fall 2012 and fall 2022, Pacific Islander students made up less than one-half of 1 percent of public elementary and secondary enrollment.

Between fall 2022 and fall 2031,⁴ the share of total public school enrollment is projected to continue decreasing for students who are

White (from 44 to 42 percent);
Black (from 15 to 14 percent); and
American Indian/Alaska Native (from 0.9 to 0.8 percent).

In contrast, the percentage of students who are Hispanic is projected to continue increasing (from 29 to 30 percent). In addition, the percentages of students who are Asian and of Two or more races are projected to increase (each from 5 to 6 percent). Pacific Islander students are projected to make up less than one-half of 1 percent of public school students.

SOURCE: National Center for Education Statistics. (2024). Racial/Ethnic Enrollment in Public Schools. Condition of Education. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved May 30, 2024, from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cge.

Numbers in figure titles reflect original numeration from source Condition of Education indicators.

Private School Enrollment⁵

The latest year for which private school enrollment data are available is fall 2021, when 4.7 million kindergarten through grade 12 (K–12) students were enrolled in private schools. Private K–12 enrollment was 5 percent higher in fall 2021 than in fall 2011 (4.5 million), but there was no measurable trend in enrollment for the period. More recently, private K–12 enrollment was 4.7 million students in both fall 2019 (the year before the coronavirus pandemic) and fall 2021. In comparison, the number of K–12 students who were enrolled in public schools was 2 percent lower in fall 2021 than in fall 2019 (48.0 vs. 49.2 million). Despite these different enrollment patterns during the pandemic, private school students made up 9 percent of combined public and private enrollment in fall 2021 and in fall 2019, as they had in each year throughout the preceding decade.

The percentage of K–12 students who were enrolled in private schools varied by race/ethnicity. In fall 2021, the percentages of Pacific Islander students (13 percent), White students (12 percent), students of Two or more races (11 percent), and Asian students (10 percent) who were enrolled in private schools were higher than the national average (9 percent).⁶ In comparison, the percentages of American Indian/Alaska Native students (6 percent), Black students (6 percent), and Hispanic students (4 percent) who were enrolled in private schools were lower than the national average.

Among the 4.7 million K–12 students who were enrolled in private schools in fall 2021

65 percent were White;
12 percent were Hispanic;
9 percent were Black;
6 percent each were Asian and of Two or more races;
1 percent each were American Indian/Alaska Native and Pacific Islander.

SOURCE: National Center for Education Statistics. (2023). Private School Enrollment. Condition of Education. U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences. Retrieved May 30, 2024, from https://nces.ed.gov/programs/coe/indicator/cgc.

Numbers in figure titles reflect original numeration from source Condition of Education indicators.

School Characteristics

Nationwide, about 29 percent of public K–12 schools and 17 percent of private K–12 schools reported that they normally offered any courses entirely online prior to the coronavirus pandemic. Among traditional public schools that offered these online courses, 41 percent reported that few (1–10 percent of students) enrolled in the courses, and 20 percent reported that most (76 percent or more of students) enrolled in them, while among public charter schools, 26 percent reported that few students enrolled in them, and 36 percent reported that most students enrolled in them. Among private schools that offered any courses entirely online, 51 percent of Catholic schools reported that few students enrolled in the courses and 10 percent reported that most students enrolled in them.

Among public K–12 schools, 50 percent of schools had staff with any specialist assignments. About 48 percent of all public schools had reading specialists, 23 percent had math specialists, and 7 percent had science specialists. In addition, 49 percent of public schools had staff with any academic coaching assignments, including coaches for reading (29 percent), math (20 percent), science (8 percent), and general instructional coaches (30 percent). Among private K–12 schools, 38 percent of schools had staff with any specialist assignments. About 32 percent of all private schools had reading specialists, 21 percent had math specialists, and 12 percent had science specialists. In addition, 29 percent of private schools had staff with any academic coaching assignments, including coaches for reading (15 percent), math (11 percent), science (7 percent), and general instructional coaches (23 percent).

Overall, 49 percent of public K–12 schools and 35 percent of private K–12 schools offered instruction beyond the normal school day for students who need academic assistance. Additionally, 32 percent of public schools and 24 percent of private schools offered instruction beyond the normal school day for students who seek academic advancement or enrichment. Among public schools, a higher percentage of charter schools offered instruction beyond the normal school day for students who needed assistance (56 percent) or who sought academic advancement or enrichment (44 percent), compared to traditional public schools (48 percent and 31 percent, respectively).

Among public K–12 schools, about 88 percent reported they were regular schools, 5 percent reported they were special program emphasis schools,⁷ 5 percent reported they were alternative/other schools,⁸ 2 percent reported they were special education schools,⁹ and 1 percent reported they were career/technical/vocational schools.¹⁰ Among private K–12 schools, about 81 percent reported they were regular schools, 7 percent reported they were special education schools, 5 percent reported they were Montessori schools, 3 percent reported they were special program emphasis schools, 3 percent reported they were alternative or other types of schools, and 1 percent reported they were early childhood programs or day care centers.¹¹

Among public K–12 schools that had teaching vacancies in a specific field, 42 percent found it very difficult or were not able to fill the vacancies for foreign language, 40 percent for special education, 37 percent for physical sciences,¹² 32 percent each for English as a second language or bilingual education and for mathematics, and 31 percent each for biology or life sciences, for computer science, and for career or technical education. Among private K–12 schools that had teaching vacancies in a specific field, 44 percent found it very difficult or were not able to fill the vacancies for special education, 35 percent for computer science, 32 percent for mathematics and for foreign languages, and 31 percent for physical science and for biology or life sciences.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2022). Characteristics of 2020–21 Public and Private K–12 Schools in the United States: Results From the National Teacher and Principal Survey (NCES 2022-111).

Student and Family Characteristics

In 2016, the percentage of students in grades 1 through 12 who lived in two-parent households was lowest for chosen public school students (65 percent), followed by assigned public school students (71 percent), and was highest for private school students (81 percent).¹³ In contrast, the percentage of students who lived in one-parent households was highest for chosen public school students (31 percent), followed by assigned public school students (25 percent), and was lowest for private school students (18 percent). For students enrolled in each of the three types of schools, 4 percent or less lived in households with only nonparental guardians, and this percentage was higher for assigned and chosen public school students (4 percent each) than for private school students (2 percent).

Percentage distribution of students enrolled in grades 1 through 12, by school type and number of parents in the household: 2016

The data in this figure is described in the surrounding text.

NOTE: Data exclude homeschooled children. Detail may not sum to totals because of rounding. Although rounded numbers are displayed, the figures are based on unrounded data.

In 2016, higher percentages of assigned and chosen public school students than of private school students in grades 1 through 12 had parents whose highest education level was less than a high school diploma, a high school diploma or GED, or some college (some college also includes parents with a vocational/technical diploma or an associate’s degree). For example, 12 percent of chosen public school students and 11 percent of assigned public school students had parents who did not complete high school, compared with 5 percent of private school students. In contrast, lower percentages of assigned and chosen public school students than of private school students had parents whose highest education level was a bachelor’s degree¹⁴ or a graduate/professional degree. For example, 15 percent of assigned public school students and 16 percent of chosen public school students had parents who had completed a graduate/professional degree, compared with 32 percent of private school students.

In 2016, the percentage of students in grades 1 through 12 living in poor households¹⁵ was higher for chosen public school students (19 percent) and assigned public school students (18 percent) than for private school students (8 percent). The percentage of students living in near-poor households was highest for chosen public school students (26 percent), followed by assigned public school students (21 percent), and was lowest for private school students (13 percent). In contrast, the percentage of students living in nonpoor households was lowest for chosen public school students (56 percent), followed by assigned public school students (61 percent), and was highest for private school students (79 percent).

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2019). School Choice in the United States: 2019 (NCES 2019-106).

¹ For general technical notes related to data analysis, data interpretation, rounding, and other considerations, please refer to the Condition of Education Reader�s Guide. Enrollment counts for individual racial/ethnic groups do not sum to the total here because of rounding.
² Data in this Fast Fact represent the 50 states and the District of Columbia, unless otherwise noted.
³ Data for 2019 include imputations for nonreported prekindergarten enrollment in California. Data for 2020 include imputations for nonreported prekindergarten enrollment in Oregon. Data for 2021 and 2022 include imputations for nonreported prekindergarten enrollment in California and Oregon.
⁴ Projections for 2023–24 through 2031–32 are based on historical data through fall 2021 only.
⁵ For the purposes of this Fast Fact, private schools exclude organizations or institutions that provide support for homeschooling. Unless otherwise noted, this Fast Fact includes kindergarten through grade 12 enrollment in the United States, defined as including the 50 states and the District of Columbia.
⁶ To calculate the percentages, enrollment data for students not reported by race/ethnicity were prorated based on the known racial/ethnic composition of their peers.
⁷ Special program emphasis schools include schools such as science or math schools, performing arts schools, talented or gifted schools, foreign language immersion schools, etc.
⁸ Alternative/other schools offer a curriculum designed to provide alternative or nontraditional education and do not specifically fall into the categories of regular, special program emphasis, special education, or vocational school.
⁹ Special education schools primarily serve students with disabilities.
¹⁰ Career/technical/vocational schools primarily serve students being trained for occupations.
¹¹ Early childhood program or day care centers include schools with transitional first grade as the highest grade offered.
¹² Physical sciences includes chemistry, physics, and earth science.
¹³ A student is considered to be attending an assigned public school if the parent indicates that the school is the student’s “regularly assigned” school. A student is considered to be attending a chosen public school if the parent indicates that the school is not the student’s regularly assigned school (e.g., a traditional public school located outside the assignment boundary based on the student’s residence, a charter school, or a magnet school).
¹⁴ Includes parents with some graduate school education but no graduate/professional degree.
¹⁵ Poor children are those whose family incomes were below the U.S. Census Bureau’s poverty threshold in the year prior to data collection; near-poor children are those whose family incomes ranged from the poverty threshold to 199 percent of the poverty threshold; and nonpoor children are those whose family incomes were at or above 200 percent of the poverty threshold. The poverty threshold is a dollar amount that varies depending on a family’s size and composition and is updated annually to account for inflation. In 2015, for example, the poverty threshold for a family of four with two children was $24,036. Survey respondents are asked to select the range within which their income falls, rather than giving the exact amount of their income; therefore, the measure of poverty status is an approximation.

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