Private school “effects” on student achievement in Australian schools

This paper examines the impact of the type of school (public or private) an individual attends on two dimensions Australian parents indicate are important in school choice: student attitudes and achievement. It exploits longitudinal data that captures individuals who change high schools to estimate how much of the apparent gaps in attitudes and achievement between students who attend different types of schools reflect unobserved differences between students and how much is the school sector effect. The apparent average gaps in attitudes and achievement between students in public and private schools largely disappear, suggesting that differences in unobserved characteristics contribute substantially to observed differences in student attitudes and achievement between Australian school sectors.