Education Week, reporting on the just-released study by the National Center for Education Statistics, the statistical center of the Institute of Education Sciences in the U.S. Department of Education, noted that private school enrollment fell from 6.3 million students in 2002–2003 to 5.5 million in 2009-2010.
The Condition of Education study notes that Catholic parish and diocesan schools have taken most of the hit, losing 510,000 students since 2002, fueled by school closings. Schools classified in the statistics as conservative Christian lost 146,000 students. Enrollment at independent and nonreligious schools remained level.
You can see the entire NCES report in the ISM Research Area.
The New York Times reported this week on the 70th—and final—graduation of Rice High School in Harlem, a Catholic high school with a long tradition. Despite the fact that Rice has 100% graduation rate and sends most of its graduates to college, it fell victim to what Francis J. Butler, president of Foundations and Donors Interested in Catholic Activities, calls a “failing business model.” With 80% of its students on financial aid, Rice—and similar schools— has suffered from the typical factors of closure such as declining enrollment, less financial support from the diocese and church, and fewer clergy to teach and administrate.
Other storied Catholic schools that have closed recently include Cardinal Dougherty High School in Philadelphia and Daniel Murphy High School in Los Angeles. Read the full New York Times story on Rice and the struggle of keeping Catholic schools open here.
While enrollment for private-independent schools can fluctuate, the NCES study points to various factors that cause enrollment fluctuation. Some Catholic parish and diocesan schools had declined but are now on the upswing. Some public charter-magnet schools are closing or enrollment has dropped significantly. According to the Education Week article, some schools converted from parochial to charter when they were threatened with closure.
There have even been a few struggling parochial schools that chose to convert to charter schools when threatened with closure by the religious organization with which they were affiliated, such as the Hellenic Classical Charter School in Brooklyn, New York, which opened on the campus of a former Greek Orthodox school, according to Education Week.
It seems there is some competition with public charter schools, but there will always be competition among schools. According to the study, private school enrollment in prekindergarten through grade 12 increased from 5.9 million in 1995–96 to 6.3 million in 2001–02, and then decreased to 5.5 million in 2009–10. Some 10 percent of all elementary and secondary school students were in private schools in 2009–10.
Many factors were included in the NCES report: enrollment trends by age, characteristics of undergraduate institutions, status dropout rates, reading performance and achievement gaps, poverty and socioeconomic classes, growth in enrollment as well as decline, and secondary school and post-secondary school statistics.
Another interesting factor in the study is in 2008–09, over 7% of public school teachers left the teaching profession compared with over 15% of private school teachers. Another 7 % of all teachers moved from their (2007–08) school to a different school.
Overall, though, enrollment in U.S. schools is expected to grow through the decade, as the U.S. population increases and participation rises.
Education Week print and online subscribers can check out the publications story here.
