On ABC's 20/20, November 12, 1999 John Stossel raked public schools over the coals, claiming among many things, that Catholic schools accomplish much more at half the cost. On November 25, 1999 Kenneth Cooper, the Washington Post's national education writer, chided schools for "dismal" scores on standardized tests. On December 2, 1999, Boston Globe columnist, Jeff Jacoby declared that although the costs of public schools had "soared" over a 30-year period, "public school achievement has worsened."

No doubt, comments like these lower people's confidence in their public schools. Should you take these guys seriously? Should you be worried? Should you think about sending your children to private schools? Consider first a few facts:

1. Standardized achievement test scores are at record highs. These data, from H. D. Hoover, Director of the Iowa Testing Programs at the University of Iowa, have never seen print in any popular media outlet.
2. Scores on the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) for all ethnic groups are at all-time highs.
3. Scores on the SAT have been rising.
4. The proportion of students scoring above 650 (the 92^nd percentile) on the SAT mathematics has risen to a record level. Most of this gain comes from black, white, Hispanic and Native American students.
5. The number of students taking Advanced Placement Tests has soared from 78,000 in 1978 to over 1,000,000 currently.

As for the differences between public and private schools, the most recent NAEP results show them to be rather small and to decrease the higher the grade level. Private schools can select their students. Public schools cannot.

In October, 1994, Money magazine compared private suburban schools to public suburban schools. "We were shocked" wrote the editors. They clearly expected to find a pronounced superiority for private schools and they didn't. "The best news to come our of Money's survey of public and private schools across America was that, by and large, public schools are not lacking in experienced topnotch teachers, challenging courses, or an environment that is conducive to learning." Should you send your kid to a private school? "Here's the bottom line," wrote the editors. "You're probably wasting your hard earned money."

Why do the media constantly batter the public schools? To answer that question would require another essay, but we can note here that the media were fed a steady stream of negative information during the 12 years of the Reagan and Bush administrations. Both administrations were advocating tuition tax credits and vouchers that would permit the spending of public funds on private schools and one strategy in that agenda was to accentuate the negative about public schools. A quick check of Stossel's background revealed that he, too, believes vouchers and privatization would produce a school system superior to the current "Soviet style" (he actually said that) system we currently have. Actually, although public schools are often portrayed as insensitive monopolies, a recent study found public schools to be more responsive to their clienteles than private schools in the same neighborhoods. That, too, will be the subject of a future essay.

I'm going to send this essay to Stossel, Cooper and Jacoby. You probably know a reporter or two who should get a copy as well.

Sources for the statistics:

1. H. D. Hoover, University of Iowa, personal communication to the author. The data can be seen in Gerald W. Bracey, Setting the Record Straight, published by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development, 1997, .
2. NAEP 1996 Trends in Academic Progress. U. S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 1997. Report No. NCES 97-985.
3. The College Board, annual press release accompanying the release of SAT scores, 1999.
4. Bracey, Gerald W. "Research". Phi Delta Kappan, January, 2000.
5. The College Board, "Annual Summary Reports, National Report, 1999."