Analysis of International Data on the Impact of Private Schooling - Hyderabad, India

With the introduction of a growing number of private schools in the third world, there is an increasing interest in examining the effects of such schooling systems on pupils from poor families. NFER's statisticians were commissioned by the E.G. West Centre in the School of Education at the University of Newcastle to analyse an international schooling dataset from Hyderabad in India. This dataset included test scores in English and mathematics, as well as IQ scores and responses to pupil, parent, teacher and school questionnaires, as well as indicators of the type of school attended (state, private recognised or private unrecognised).

The results indicated that the strongest relationship was between pupil outcomes and IQ and age, with other background characteristics appearing to some extent. There was a clear difference between outcomes for state schools and private schools, controlling for IQ and age, with pupils in private schools achieving higher scores in mathematics and English, controlling for other factors. The difference between private recognised and unrecognised schools appeared not to be significant.