Meaning and Significance in the Analysis of the Nonpublic School Survey. Technical Report No. 2

This report is a record of a one-day seminar sponsored by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES). The theme of the conference was the timely issue of the role of nonpublic schools in educating American children. The participants were: (1) representatives of private schools, (2) federal policymakers; and (3) researchers. Jay Noell introduced the seminar. Roy Nehrt discussed specific technical issues involved in survey design and management. Joel Berke identified six points in the Education Amendments of 1978 that increased the policy relevance of data on nonpublic schools. Fritz Edelstein discussed the relationships of private schools to participation in programs administered by the United States Office of Education. Marty Jacobs discussed data availability and data needs with regard to four major policy areas: (1) the extent of current federal support for private education; (2) the need for federal aid to private education; (3) who would benefit from increased aid to private education; and (4) the effectiveness and quality of private education. Joanell Porter presented specific details of the current NCES-sponsored survey of nonpublic schools. Robert Lamborn described the progress made in developing data on nonpublic schools. Rhoda Goldstein and Frank Bredeweg discussed several problems encounted in the survey effort. Otto Kraushaar provided a solid historical perspective for the role of the private sector in American education. Don McLaughlin set forth a model for increasing meaning and significance of survey efforts and listed three areas of federal policy concern: (1) whether nonpublic schools enhance or interfere with the achievement of the goals of federal aid programs; (2) the extent to which nonpublic schools promote or inhibit the opportunity for diverse educational experiences; and (3) the effects on public schools of major shifts in the size of nonpublic school enrollment and the likelihood of those shifts. A copy of the survey questionnaire for the survey of nonpublic elementary and secondary schools is appended. (JAZ)