Comparing Public and Private Schools
Teacher Survey Results

San Antonio School Choice Research Project

Summer 1996

Executive Summary

This report is the second in a series of research reports on a three-year study of private and public school choice programs in San Antonio, Texas.  The first report examined the characteristics of choosing and nonchoosing families, the factors influencing their schooling decisions, and their levels of satisfaction with their schools.  This second report discusses the characteristics of private and public schools as perceived by the teachers within them.

Two choice programs are the focus of the three-year study.  The first is the privately funded Children's Educational Opportunity (CEO) Foundation program providing partial scholarships to low-income children for use in private and out-of-district public schools (none of the latter participated in the program because of lack of space).   The second is a district-wide multilingual thematic public school choice program offered by the San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD).  In addition, inclusion of SAISD allows study of a comparative group of nonchoice attendance-zone schools.

A survey was administered in Spring 1993 and followed up in Fall 1994.   It included over 1,100 teachers in many of these schools.  The survey sought information about school mission and goals, administrative style and procedures, discipline policy, teacher autonomy and influence, pedagogical approaches, and nature of parental involvement.  The groups of schools consisted of (1) private elementary schools participating in the CEO program, (2) SAISD nonchoice attendance-zone elementary schools, (3) private middle schools participating in the CEO program, (4) SAISD middle schools housing the multilingual choice program, and (5) SAISD nonchoice attendance-zone middle schools.

Key findings from the research are:

1.  The vast majority of private and public elementary and middle school teachers find that the mission and goals are clearly stated at their schools and the principal committed to carrying them out.

2.  Teachers at CEO private schools are more likely than SAISD teachers to find the school learning environment conducive to student achievement.   SAISD attendance-zone middle schools are the least likely of any respondent group to find the school environment conducive to student achievement.

3.  Teachers at both CEO private elementary schools and SAISD elementary schools generally agree that building-level personnel work together as a team.

4.  Twice as many CEO private middle school teachers as SAISD public attendance-zone middle school teachers agree that building-level personnel work together as a team.  Within the multilingual schools, multilingual teachers are more likely to say they work as team than are regular teachers.

5.  CEO private school teachers are more likely than SAISD teachers to agree that teachers are supported when they enforce the school's discipline rules.

6.  Over two-thirds of CEO private and SAISD public elementary teachers say they have moderate or great influence over setting school performance goals.   Private school elementary teachers indicate more influence than public school elementary teachers over determining school discipline rules and establishing the school curriculum.  Public school elementary teachers indicate more influence over staff development programs and the school budget.

7.  CEO private middle school teachers show greater influence over building policy issues than SAISD public middle school teachers, with regular teachers at SAISD's two multilingual middle schools showing the least influence in most areas.

8.  CEO private school teachers claim much more influence over selecting classroom textbooks and other instructional material than SAISD teachers.    Both groups say they have considerable control over selecting the content, topics, and skills taught in the classroom and in determining the amount of homework assigned.

9.  Three-quarters of CEO private elementary and middle school teachers are Anglo, compared with roughly fifty percent of SAISD elementary and multilingual middle school teachers and fifty-seven percent of SAISD attendance-zone middle school teachers.

10.  SAISD teachers are more likely to hold master's degrees, be certified, and have more years of full-time teaching experience than CEO private school teachers.

11.  Class size is more likely to vary at CEO private schools than at SAISD public schools.  Classes are much more likely to be large at SAISD middle schools than at CEO private middle schools.  However, although teachers in attendance-zone schools and regular teachers in multilingual middle schools have the largest classes, multilingual teachers have the smallest classes of all groups.

12.  SAISD attendance-zone middle school teachers assign less homework than their counterparts at SAISD multilingual schools and at CEO private middle schools.  Multilingual teachers assigned more homework than the other groups.

13.  Two-thirds to three-fourths of the SAISD middle school and elementary teachers say they encourage their students to express their values and to develop an appreciation for the values of other students, while a majority of CEO private school teachers say they teach the values represented by their school.

14.  The vast majority of all respondents say they engage in discussing controversial issues in the classroom.  The group most likely to do so often is CEO middle school teachers.

15.  Over half the teachers at CEO private elementary and secondary schools expect upwards of 90 percent of their students to reach grade level by the end of the year.  The percentages for SAISD teachers are much lower.

16.  While both private and public school teachers say they make similar efforts to contact parents, CEO private school teachers are more likely to meet their students' parents, to have parent volunteers in the classroom, and to have parents respond to their requests for conferences than are SAISD public school teachers.