Research Paper

Are Private School Students More Successful than Public School Students?

By: Richard Wang

         There's been an ongoing battle on whether private school students are more successful than their public counterparts, the answer is quite obvious. Private school wins easily, research shows that private schools students have a different mentality towards education, a better one in fact. From factors such as motivation, and teaching style, all the way down to collaboration and location can weigh heavily into a child's future. Overall, private schools have the upper hand when coming to deciding on what schools are best for your kids.

         One of the biggest factors why private institute students are more succeful is because of their motivation. Mahbube Keihaniyan wrote an article that investigated numerous schools through surveys, tests, and displayed the information in various forms. The author found that the higher the motivation, the higher the chance of success in school. The reasoning was that private school students are more motivated in school as the teaching style is base on the students and not teachers. These students don't view courses as fixed, boring classes, but a fun way to interact and learn new things.

         There were not only tests done on motivation, but also on the actual effectiveness in shown in marks as well. Three Korean authors investigated 7th graders from Korea over a term of 2 years and observed the effectiveness of private tutoring in a child's education. Their research paper stated private tutoring isn't the only big factor in having success in education, the parents collaboration with the tutor and finding the right tutor for their children also played a huge role. The research showed that private tutored students did exceptionally better in Math and English compared to their public school students. 

         There are supported facts from a business point of view.  Andrew J.C. investigated about whether schools that costed money was better than free publicly funded ones. He conducted numerous experiments and assessed years of international research, his conclusion from his article was very clear. Paid private schools, are the best type of schools available to the public. Paid schools have the highest quality of education, public school students have far too much restrictions. Quality of education is important in a children's academic success.

         Research conducted at the international level also supports this stance. Jaap and Silvia's article compared the results of private and public students from 26 countries around the world. Private schools have an overall higher rating than public schools. Though there are some countries in where private school students have no difference with public school students or private school students sometimes even does worse than public students, these countries are exceedingly rare. In some special cases, different ethnics and religions create different motives.

         Lastly, research was conducted on foreign students that take ESL or LEP courses. Tamee R. Jeremy D.B. and Shawn D.B.'s paper focused on private and public schools that offered ESL and LEP programs and investigated the effect it had on the students in the state of Utah through observation and test scores. The results was that there was little difference between the two though some public schools seemed to be a bit better than private schools. Since the authors did minimal research and did not have enough facts, they are afraid to make this final.

         In conclusion, private institutes are the best option for successful kids. There are facts that can back this up in numerous perspectives such as from the mental perspective, a business perspective, and an international perspective. Private school students of all types have done exceptionally better than normal students. Though there may be some parts where public school students have been on par or even surpass private schools, they are very rare and overall, private schools still remains on top.


Mahbube, K. (2011) Teaching Methodology and Motivation: Comparison of Iranian English Private Institute and High School, Journal of Language Teaching and Research, Vol. 2, No. 3, pp. 588-599, doi:10.4304/jltr.2.3.588-599


ANDREW J.C. (2009) Comparing Public, Private, and Market Schools: The International Evidence, Journal of School Choice, Vol. 3 Issue 1, p31-54, 24p, doi: 10.1080/15582150902805016


Hyunjoon P. Soo-yong B. & Kyung-keun K. (2011) Parental Involvement and Students’ Cognitive Outcomes in Korea: Focusing on Private Tutoring, Sociology of Education, Vol. 84 Issue 1, p3-22, 20p, doi: 10.1177/0038040710392719 

Jaap D. & Silvia A. (2010) A cross-national analysis of the relations of school choice and

effectiveness differences between private-dependent and public schools, Educational Research & Evaluation, Vol. 16 Issue 2, p151-175, 25p, doi:10.1080/13803611.2010.484977


Tamee R. Jeremy D.B. & Shawn D.B. (2006) ESL Programs and LEP Students: A Comparison of Public and Private Schools along the Wasatch Front, Multicultural Education, , Vol. 13 Issue 3, p27-32, 6p, (no doi)