Performance Differences Between Religious And Nonreligious Schools

Author(s):

Geert Driessen(presenting / submitting)Orhan Agirdag Michael S. Merry

Conference:

ECER 2015

Network:

23. Policy Studies and Politics of Education

Format:

Paper

Session Information

23 SES 05 D, Policies and Practices of Parental School Choice (Part 1)

Paper Session to be continued in 23 SES 06 D

Time:

2015-09-09

11:00-12:30

Room:

VIII. Előadó [C]

Chair:

Annette Rasmussen

Contribution

1. Background, perspective and objective

1.1 Religious schools in secularized societies

Across much of Europe there is ample evidence to suggest a sharp decline in religiosity (Norris & Inglehart, 2011). At the same time, the market share of religious schools remains virtually unchanged. There are several explanations for this (Denessen, Driessen & Sleegers, 2005). First, a significant number of parents choose the local religious school simply because it is the nearest school. Second, a committed core of devout parents continue to choose religious schools for reasons having to do with piety. Moreover, several Protestant denominations but also Muslim and Hindu parents have joined their ranks. Yet perhaps the number one reason why religious schools continue to be selected concerns their academic reputation.

1.2 Quality, output and funding

Especially since theColeman, Kilgore and Hoffer (1981) report, numerous studies have been conducted into the outcome effects of denominational schools. Underlying some of this research is the question of whether the state is responsible for financing religious schools. Indeed, the mere fact that so many children attend religious schools appears to support to the idea of equally funding all schools (Merry, 2007). Further, if many religious schools outperform nonreligious schools, then there also are reasons to think that nonreligious schools may have something to learn from them (Jeynes, 2002). These matters concern not only the financing of schools but also the increasing amount of attention on the quality of education being offered. The notion of educational quality is deduced primarily from the output of the schools in terms of pupil achievement. Accordingly, researchers have been keen to determine the possible relationship between denomination and educational results. While much research has been done, mostly focusing on differences in academic achievement, the results remain inconclusive (Avram & Dronkers, 2010).

1.3 Explanations for output differences

In so far as output differences that appear to be attributable to the schools’ denomination are encountered, several explanations have been offered. For example, Dijkstra (1997) mentions the selectivity thesis, which suggests that the differences between religious and nonreligious schools can be explained by the fact that religious schools attract better and more motivated pupils. Another explanation concerns the large degree of solidarity and involvement of parents, teachers, and administration in religious schools. Yet another explanation concerns the more effective management and administration of religious schools. A last explanation might be a strong achievement-oriented socializing culture for certain religious denominations.

1.4 Research objective

In this research we focus on the Netherlands. The Dutch case offers many illuminating insights for other European countries, particularly when we take the following into consideration: (a) the wide religious variety of religious schools; (b) the 100% state financing of religious schools, and (c) the high percentage of pupils nationwide (70%) who attend religious schools.

So how do religious and nonreligious schools in the Netherlands differ? Religious and nonreligious schools cater to different populations both in terms of the secular-religious dimension as well as the socioeconomic and ethnic dimension (Dronkers & Robert, 2008). Recently, national large-scale data have become available that make it possible to analyze a wide range of not only cognitive but also noncognitive output measures. The main question of this study is: are there any output differences between religious and nonreligious schools – taking into account their differing pupil populations?

Method

2. METHOD 2.1 Sample The data analyzed here are from the 2011 measurement round of the Dutch large-scale COOL5-18 cohort study (Driessen, Mulder & Roeleveld, 2012). A representative subsample of 386 schools with a total of 27,457 pupils in grades 2, 5 and 8 (6-, 9- and 12-year-olds) was drawn. This sample included 143 public, i.e. nonreligious schools, 101 Protestant schools, 125 Catholic schools, and 17 Islamic schools. 2.2 Instruments and variables In the COOL study the following relevant 19 outcome measures were used: • in all grades standardized Language and Math tests; • in grade 8, the standardized Primary school leavers’ test (with Language, Math, and Study skills subtests); • in grade 8 the secondary school recommendation given by the class teacher; • in grades 5 and 8 two standardized scales to establish the pupils’ motivation (Self-efficacy and Task motivation); • in grade 8 the Citizenship competences questionnaire (with Knowledge, Reflection, Skills, and Attitudes subscales). The central variable here is the denomination of the school. To correctly appreciate the schools’ cognitive and noncognitive output according to denomination, two new measures were calculated, the gross and the net output. To arrive at the net output the gross output was corrected for by several factors at the pupil and school level. This net output is referred to as ‘value added’ output: what is added by the school to the pupils’ initial intellectual and social capital (Dronkers, 2013). At the pupil level these correction factors were socio-economic background and ethnic origin and at the school level the percentages of pupils with (very) low educated parents, and the percentages of immigrant pupils. 2.3 Analytical strategy Because of the nested structure of the data, pupils within schools, multilevel analysis was performed. Several models were tested. In model 1, the central variable of school denomination was introduced with dummy categories Protestant, Catholic and Islamic schools, and reference category nonreligious schools. The results of this model can be interpreted as the gross effect of denomination. In model 2, a first series of correction variables at the level of the pupil were added, namely parental educational level and immigrant origin. In model 3, a second series of correction variables at the level of the school were introduced: the percentage equivalents of the correction variables at the pupil level. The results of this model can be interpreted as the net effect of denomination.

Expected Outcomes

3. RESULTS Central is the question of whether pupils are better off in denominational schools than in public schools. When we first look at the gross effects, the results show that Protestant schools perform somewhat better than public schools, certainly with regard to the cognitive measures (e.g. Language and Math). Regarding the non-cognitive measures (Self-efficacy and Task motivation in grade 5 and Citizenship Reflection and Skills) they perform somewhat worse. In terms of academic performance, Catholic schools do not differ much from public schools. Islamic schools perform the worst on nearly all cognitive measures. It is striking, however, that on almost all non-cognitive measures (with the exception of Citizenship Knowledge) they perform better or even much better than the other denominations. When we next look at the net effects, the results show that of the 30 significant gross effects only 2 net effects remain significant. Surprising is the fact that after having corrected for social and ethnic differences in pupil backgrounds, Islamic schools even achieve better (though not significantly) than the other denominations on nearly all output measures, especially with regard to math achievement. Although Islamic schools in an absolute sense achieve lowest on all cognitive measurements, they succeed in raising their pupils’ progress more than the other denominations. With regard to the non-cognitive measurements (except Knowledge) they already score highest in an absolute sense. These results indicate that reasons based solely on the output measures – and hence solely on its academic performance – are insufficient to explain the continued popularity of religious schools. Indeed it suggests that reasons other than the academic performance of the school need to be examined if we wish to understand why so many parents continue to favour religious schools over the alternatives.

References

REFERENCES Avram, S., & Dronkers, J. (2010). School sector variation in non-cognitive dimensions: Are denominational schools different? Paper Second Biennial Meeting EARLI, Leuven (B), August 25-27, 2010. Coleman, J., Kilgore, S., & Hoffer, T. (1981). Public and private high schools. Washington, D.C.: National Center for Educational Statistics. Denessen, E., Driessen, G., & Sleegers, P. (2005). Segregation by choice? A study of group-specific reasons for school choice. Journal of Education Policy, 20(3) 347-368. Dijkstra, A.B. (1997): Onderwijskansen en richting van de school. In: A.B. Dijkstra, J. Dronkers & R. Hofman (Eds.): Verzuiling in het onderwijs. Actuele verklaringen en analyse (pp. 144-184). Groningen: Wolters-Noordhoff. Driessen, G., Mulder, L., & Roeleveld, J. (2012). Cohortonderzoek COOL5-18. Technisch Rapport Basisonderwijs, Tweede Meting 2010/11. Nijmegen: ITS. Dronkers, J. (2013). Toelichting op de berekening van toegevoegde waarde van reguliere basisscholen op grond van hun gemiddelde scores op hun toetsen 2011, 2012 en 2013. Versie 15 november 2013. Maastricht: Universiteit Maastricht. Dronkers, J., & Robert, P. (2008). Differences in scholastic achievement of public, private government-dependent, and private independent schools: A cross-national analysis. Educational Policy, 22(4) 541-577. Jeynes, W. (2002). Educational policy and the effects of attending a religious school on the academic achievement of children. Educational Policy, 16(3) 406-424. Merry, M. (2007). Should the State Fund Religious Schools? Journal of Applied Philosophy 24(3): 255-270. Norris, P., & Inglehart, R. (2011). Sacred and secular: Religion and politics worldwide. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Author Information

Geert Driessen (presenting / submitting)

ITS, Radboud University

Nijmegen

Orhan Agirdag

University of Amsterdam, Netherlands, The

Michael S. Merry