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<p>Many parents want their kids to go to private schools. But new data crunched by policy analyst Joel Hernandez shows state-integrated schools may be a better choice.<br />
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A state-integrated school generally has a special character. For instance, a religious belief (e.g. Catholic) or a specialist teaching method such as Montessori.<br />
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State-integrated schools also charge much lower annual fees for students than private schools. Often, the annual fee might be $1500, compared with a private school average of $20,000.<br />
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This report pulled data from Statistics New Zealand’s Integrated Data Infrastructure (IDI) – New Zealand’s largest research database.<br />
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Hernandez used the Initiative’s IDI school performance tool to reveal a schools&#8217; effect on a student&#8217;s learning. It removes confounding factors like a parents’ education and income.<br />
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He uses university entrance (UE) attainment as a metric to see if a school is successful.<br />
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“We found that, on average, students at state-integrated schools are more likely to gain UE attainment,” Hernandez said.<br />
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“For instance, while the average student at a state school has a 30.5% chance of gaining UE, those at state-integrated schools had a 38.8% chance. Private schools were almost as good at 37.4%.”<br />
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There are about 42 private secondary schools in the country, 93 state-integrated and 330 state schools. On balance, New Zealand has more high-performing private schools (66.7%) than state-integrated (45.2%) and state schools (15.5%).<br />
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“Of course, education isn’t just about gaining UE. Yet, giving kids <a class="wpil_keyword_link" href="https://www.schoolnews.co.nz/2015/10/developing-opportunities-at-school-with-a-view/" title="opportunities" data-wpil-keyword-link="linked" target="_blank">opportunities</a> is a key part of a school’s role. If educators don’t believe every kid can gain UE, then we must lift our expectations.”<br />
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“If parents are saving up to get their child into a private school, this report shows state-integrated schools might be the best bang for their buck,” Hernandez said.<br />
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Hernandez will answer why state-integrated schools are doing so well in an upcoming report.<br />
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“In an ideal world, students should be getting a world class education at any school,” Hernandez said.<br />
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“Yet state schools are much worse off.”<br />
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The report <em>The State of Schooling: State, state-integrated and private school performance in New Zealand</em> can be read on The New Zealand Initiative website <a href="http://nzinitiative.outreach.co.nz/redirect/YTo2OntzOjM6InVybCI7czo5MDoiaHR0cHM6Ly9uemluaXRpYXRpdmUub3JnLm56L3JlcG9ydHMtYW5kLW1lZGlhL3JlcG9ydHMvcmVzZWFyY2gtbm90ZXRoZS1zdGF0ZS1vZi1zY2hvb2xpbmcvIjtzOjQ6InR5cGUiO3M6NDoiaHJlZiI7czo3OiJtZXNzYWdlIjtzOjU6IjI1MTk1IjtzOjc6ImFjY291bnQiO3M6MTI6Im56aW5pdGlhdGl2ZSI7czo4OiJjYXRlZ29yeSI7czo0OiIxMzIzIjtzOjEwOiJub3RpZmlhYmxlIjtpOjE7fQ..?oid=20872" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>.</p>

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