Private Schooling Status Update: Things Keep Looking Up

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Private Schooling Status Update: Things Keep Looking Up

22 Nov 2021

Last month, I reported on Cato CEF’s most recent private school enrollment survey, which among other things indicated that majorities or pluralities of schools—depending on how pre‑K students were handled—saw enrollment increases between last school year and the current one. Unfortunately, our survey had a high margin of error due to low response rates, but new data are consistent with our findings.Last week, The Economist reported on enrollment increases in Roman Catholic schools, which appeared to be hardest‐​hit sector during the pandemic, and are the largest private‐​schooling sector other than independent schools:The National Catholic Educational Association is still collecting and analysing the latest pupil data, but its preliminary numbers show increases in most dioceses.The Brooklyn‐​Queens diocese in New York, one of the biggest in the country, saw increases for the first time in a decade or more. Nearly 60% of its schools are growing, with many increasing by 10%. Partnership Schools, a network of Catholic schools in New York City and in Cleveland, saw a 16% increase. The diocese of Springfield, in Massachusetts, is up by 13%. Arlington’s diocese, which takes in the suburbs of Washington, dc, increased by 6%. The Archdiocese of Baltimore, the county’s oldest, saw a similar increase. Chicago’s archdiocese, which includes some suburbs, saw a 5% increase. Enrolment increased by nearly 4% in Catholic elementary schools in Philadelphia’s archdiocese.What’s driving the increase? Consistent with previous findings on school responses to the pandemic, The Economist writes that Catholic schools, like private schools broadly, tended to re‐​open to in‐​person instruction more quickly than public schools. “Last autumn many public‐​school systems delayed reopening and did not offer full‐​time in‐​class learning,” says the article. “When Catholic schools reopened, most provided in‐​person learning. This appealed to families who struggled with remote learning.”
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Authors

Neal McCluskey

Published in
United States of America

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