“Students in the lowest SES quartile who attended a private school in 8th grade were nearly four times more likely to earn a bachelor’s degree than students from the same quartile who attended a public school.” — Council for American Private Education
This is a significant statement. Students in private school outperform public school — and NOT merely because their parents have higher incomes. It is true that parents’ income correlates with higher grades, but that is not the primary predictive factor. Something else about private school is predictive. Coleman 88 pointed to the expectations of the parents and educators. When one looks further, one sees that religious schools outperform — a counter-intuitive finding. Researchers think this is because all religious schools, regardless of class or mission, all aim at character formation. When adults care about students, expect them to do well, and train them in good character habits, then students excel.
Everyone one of us can implement this in our school. What are your plans this year to include character formation in your curricula or school culture?