Trends In the Use of 

School Choice 

1993 to 1999 

Statistical Analysis Report 

May 2003 U.S. Department of Education 

Institute of Education Sciences 

NCES 2003–031 
Trends In the Use of 

School Choice 

1993 to 1999 

Statistical Analysis Report 

May 2003 

U.S. Department of Education 

Institute of Education Sciences 

NCES 2003–031 

Stacey Bielick 

Education Statistics Services Institute 

Christopher Chapman 

National Center for Education Statistics 
U.S. Department of Education

Rod Paige 

Secretary

Institute of Education Sciences 

Grover J. Whitehurst 

Director

National Center for Education Statistics

Val Plisko 

Associate Commissioner

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Suggested Citation 

U.S. Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. Trends in the Use of School 

Choice: 1993 to 1999, (NCES 2003-031), by Stacey Bielick and Christopher Chapman. Washington, 

DC: 2003. 

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to thank Eric Hanushek of the Hoover Institution at Stanford 

University, John Fitz of Cardiff University, and Jerry West, Val Plisko, Marilyn Seastrom,

William Hussar, Bruce Taylor, Arnold Goldstein, and Stephen P. Broughman of the National 

Center for Education Statistics (NCES) for their thoughtful and thorough reviews. We also 

appreciate comments provided by the program offices within the U.S. Department of Education.

Sandra Eyster, Jennifer Sable, and Nikkita Willis of the Education Statistics Services Institute 

(ESSI) provided valuable assistance in all aspects of the National Household Education Surveys

Program (NHES), including the development of this report. Westat Incorporated collected and 

documented the NHES data. We would also like to thank the approximately 50,000 parents who 

completed the interviews upon which this report is based.

 iii 
Executive Summary 

The National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) provides a comprehensive

set of information that may be used to estimate the use of school choice in the United States. 

Within the United States, school choice is primarily comprised of programs that allow students to 

attend any public school within or outside of their local school district, a magnet or charter 

school, a private school, or homeschool. This report examines data from three administrations of 

the NHES (1993, 1996, and 1999) in which children's parents were asked if their children 

attended their assigned public schools, public schools that they had chosen, private schools that 

are church-related, or private schools that are not church-related, and about their satisfaction and 

involvement with those schools. The report provides information about trends in the use and users

of public schools of choice and private schools, and outcomes of these choices—parent 

satisfaction and involvement, and students’ plans for postsecondary education. The report also 

provides a brief analysis of homeschooled students. This report cannot answer questions about the 

availability of public school choice or other school choice programs. 

As figure A below shows, the percentage of children enrolled in public, assigned schools 

for 1st through 12th grades decreased from 80 percent in 1993 to 76 percent in 1999. The decrease

in public, assigned school enrollment was almost completely offset by an increase from 11 to 14

percent in public, chosen school enrollment. Enrollment in private, church-related schools 

remained relatively stable at 7–8 percent between 1993 and 1999 and enrollment in private, not 

church-related schools was about 2 percent in each year.

 iv 
Figure A.— Percentage of students enrolled in grades 1–12 by public and private school type:

1993, 1996, and 1999

NOTE: Includes homeschooled students enrolled in public or private schools for 9 or more hours per

week.

Percent enrolled

80

11 8

2

76

14

8

2

76

14

7 2

0

20

40

60

80

100

Public, assigned Public, chosen Private, churchrelatedPrivate, not

church-related

1993 1996 1999

SOURCE: U.S Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Readiness

Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 1993, School Safety and

Discipline Survey of the NHES, 1993, Parent & Family Involvement Survey of the NHES, 1996, and

the Parent Survey of the NHES, 1999.

Characteristics of students in public, assigned and chosen schools and private schools 

The trend away from public, assigned school enrollment and toward public, chosen 

school enrollment between 1993 and 1999 was most evident among students from low-income

households.1 Between 1993 and 1999, the proportion of students whose household income was

$10,000 or less who were in public, assigned schools fell from 83 percent to 74 percent (this 

decrease was mostly offset by an increase in public, chosen school enrollment). In contrast, over 

the same period, the proportion of students from households with incomes of more than $75,000

attending public, assigned schools remained relatively steady at around 70 percent. No 

differences were detected in the proportion of students in this high income group attending 

1

 Income data are categorical and have not been adjusted for inflation. Hence, they do not reflect the same 

purchasing power for the three years. Independent analyses not shown here indicate that the patterns found

for unadjusted income are the same as those found using a measure of poverty, which adjusts for inflation.

 v
private schools between 1993 and 1999. Students from families with higher incomes were overall 

more likely to attend private schools than were students from families with lower incomes.

Other student and family characteristics were also associated with school choice. In each 

of these years, Black students had a higher rate of enrollment in public, chosen schools than did 

White or Hispanic students in the 1st through 12th grades. Generally, a greater percentage of 1st

through 12th grade students living in urban areas attended public, chosen and private schools than 

did students living outside urban areas.

In all-three survey years, a higher percentage of 1st through 12th grade students living in

two-parent households were enrolled in private, church-related schools than were students living

in one-parent households. Students whose parents possessed at least a bachelor’s degree had a 

higher rate of enrollment in private schools, both church-related and not church-related, than 

students whose parents obtained at most a high school diploma, GED or less. First through 12th

grade students with disabilities attended private, church-related schools at a lower rate than did 

students without disabilities. There were no differences detected between students with and 

without disabilities for other types of schools.

Characteristics of Homeschooled Children 

Homeschoolers are not mirror images of students in either public or private schools, 

differing from both on a number of characteristics. Homeschoolers differed from students in 

public schools in that their parents tended to be better educated. Homeschoolers were more likely

to be White and to live in two-parent households than were students in assigned or chosen 

schools.

Homeschoolers differed from private school students in fewer ways than they differed

from public school students. Homeschoolers were less likely than private school students to live

in households with annual incomes over $75,000. They were also less likely to live in the 

Northeast and inside urban areas and more likely to live in rural areas. 

 vi 
Differences in parent satisfaction and involvement with their children’s schools2

Choice makes a difference in parent satisfaction. Parents whose children attended either 

public, chosen schools or private schools were more likely to say they were very satisfied with 

their children’s schools, teachers, academic standards, and order and discipline than were parents 

whose children attended public, assigned schools (tables 3 and 6). Parents whose children

attended private schools were more involved in activities at their children’s schools than were 

parents whose children attended public, assigned and public, chosen schools (tables 4a, 4b, and 

7).

Differences in parents’ expectations for their children’s postsecondary education 

According to parent reports, at least nine out of ten 6th through 12th grade students had 

plans for postsecondary education after high school regardless of school type. However, more

students in private, church-related schools were expected by their parents to graduate from a 4-

year college than were public school students (tables 5a and 5b). There were no differences 

detected in parents’ expectations between public, assigned and public, chosen schools.

2

 Please note that questions about satisfaction and parental involvement were asked only of parents of

students in grades 3-12 in 1993. For this reason, discussion of satisfaction and involvement is limited to

students in grades 3-12.

 vii
Contents

Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................. iii 

Executive Summary ................................................................................................................ iv 

List of Tables ........................................................................................................................... ix 

List of Figures ......................................................................................................................... xi 

Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1 

Background .............................................................................................................................. 4 

Data Sources ............................................................................................................... 9 

Measuring School Choice ...........................................................................................10

Measuring Parent Involvement and Satisfaction, and Student Plans for 

Postsecondary Education.............................................................................................11

Findings ...................................................................................................................................12

Student and Household Characteristics by Public and Private School Types.............12

Characteristics of Homeschooled Children .................................................................21

Parent Involvement and Satisfaction, and Student Plans for Postsecondary

Education ....................................................................................................................24

Multivariate Analysis of Average Parent Satisfaction and Level of Involvement ......29

Summary and Conclusions ......................................................................................................34

Methodology and Data Reliability ..........................................................................................36

References ...............................................................................................................................44

Appendix A 

Tables of Numbers ...................................................................................................................48

 viii
List of Tables 

Table 1.— Percentage of students enrolled in grades 1–12 by public and private school 

types, and by student and household characteristics: 1993, 1996, and 1999 ........... 15

Table 2.— Percentage of students ages 5–17 enrolled in grades 1–12 by public and 

private school types and homeschool, by student and household

characteristics: 1999 ................................................................................................ 22

Table 3.— Percentage of students in grades 3–12 whose parents were very satisfied with 

various aspects of their schools by public and private school types: 1993 and 

1999 ......................................................................................................................... 25

Table 4a.— Percentage of students in grades 3–12 whose parents were involved in 

various ways with their children's schools by public school types: 1993,

1996, and 1999......................................................................................................... 27

Table 4b.— Percentage of students in grades 3–12 whose parents were involved in 

various ways with their children's schools by private school types: 1993,

1996, and 1999......................................................................................................... 27

Table 5a.— Percentage of students in grades 6–12 who plan to attend school after high 

school as reported by students' parents by public school types: 1993, 1996,

1999 ......................................................................................................................... 28

Table 5b.— Percentage of students in grades 6–12 who plan to attend school after high 

school as reported by students' parents by private school types: 1993, 1996,

1999 ......................................................................................................................... 28

Table 6.— Coefficients from OLS regressions on 3rd through 12th grade students’

parents’ reports of satisfaction with their children’s school characteristics:

1999 ......................................................................................................................... 31

Table 7.— Coefficients from OLS regressions on 3rd through 12th grade students’

parents’ involvement in their children’s schools: 1999 ........................................... 33

Table A1.— Number of students in grades 1–12 attending public and private schools, by

student and household characteristics: 1993, 1996, and 1999................................ 49

Table A2.— Number of students in grades 3–12 attending public and private schools, by

school type: 1993, 1996, and 1999......................................................................... 50

Table A3.— Number of students in grades 1–12, ages 5–17, attending public and private 

schools and homeschool by student and household characteristics: 1999 ............. 51

Table A4.— Number of students in grades 6–12 attending public and private schools, by

school type: 1993, 1996, and 1999......................................................................... 52

 ix 
List of Figures 

Figure A— Percentage of students enrolled in grades 1–12 by public and private school 

type: 1993, 1996, and 1999...................................................................................... v 

Figure 1.— Percentage of students enrolled in grades 1–12 by public and private school 

type: 1993, 1996, and 1999...................................................................................... 12

Figure 2.— Percentage of students enrolled grades 1–12 in public, assigned and public, 

chosen schools by lowest and highest household income groups ($10,000 or 

less and more than $75,000): 1993, 1996, and 1999................................................ 17

Figure 3.— Percentage of students in grades 3–12 whose parents are very satisfied with 

various aspects of the students’ schools by public and private school type:

1999 ......................................................................................................................... 26

 x
Introduction

School choice is a school reform initiative that, since the 1980s, has moved from a 

theoretical argument for changes in the public education system to a widespread reform

movement (U.S Department of Education 1995, Cookson 1994). Within the United States, school

choice is primarily comprised of programs that allow students to attend any public school within 

or outside of their local school district, a magnet or charter school, a private school, or 

homeschool. Before the late 1980s, school choice was almost synonymous with private school 

attendance (Choy 1997). However, the availability of public school choice, which generally 

includes magnet and charter schools and inter and intradistrict school choice, has grown.3

 The 

number of magnet schools nearly doubled since between the early 1980s and the year 2000 and

the number of public charter schools grew from two schools in 1992 to over 1,400 schools in 

1999 (Nelson, et al. 2000, Algozzine et al. 1999). In this report, children are considered to be 

enrolled in schools of choice if they were enrolled in public schools other than their assigned 

school or in private schools, both church-related and not church-related. Children who were 

homeschooled and did not attend any public or private school are also examined in a separate 

analysis.

The increase in public schooling options from which families can choose has been 

accompanied by an increase in the use of public school choice. Data in this report show that the 

percentage of students enrolled in public, chosen schools, meaning inter- and intradistrict schools 

of choice or public magnet or charter schools, increased from 11 percent in 1993 to 14 percent in 

1999. Conversely, enrollment in public, assigned schools, meaning schools to which students are 

assigned based primarily on their residence, decreased from 80 percent in 1993 to 76 percent in 

1999. Enrollment in private schools remained stable at 7 or 8 percent for private, church-related 

schools and at 2 percent for private, not church-related schools. 

3

 Interdistrict school choice allows students to enroll in schools outside of their local district. Intradistrict

choice allows students to enroll in any school within their local district.

1
This report examines differences in students who attend public schools, both assigned 

and chosen; private schools, both church-related and not church-related;4

 and homeschooling, by

considering the following research questions:

• What was the trend in the use of public schools, both assigned and chosen, 

and private schools, both church-related and not church-related, between 

1993 and 1999?

• What were some of the characteristics of the chosen and assigned schools 

attended by elementary and secondary students, and how have they changed

over time?

• What were the individual and family characteristics of students who attended 

the various types of chosen schools and assigned schools and how have those 

characteristics changed over time?

• What were the characteristics of homeschooled students compared to 

students in public and private schools? 

• What was the relationship between the various types of chosen and assigned

schools students were attending and parent satisfaction and involvement with 

those schools? 

• What was the relationship between the kind of school attended by students

and the educational expectations their parents had for them?

The data used in this report are from three administrations—1993, 1996, and 1999—of

the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES). In each survey year, parents were

asked whether or not their children attended a public or private school, if the public school was a 

regularly assigned school or a school parents chose, and whether or not a private school was 

church-related. Parents were asked about their involvement with their children’s schools, 

including attending meetings, parent-teacher conferences, school events such as plays or sports 

events, or volunteering at the school, and their satisfaction with their children’s school, teachers, 

order and discipline, and academic standards. Additionally, parents were asked if they thought 

their children would attend school after high school and if they thought they would graduate from

a 4-year college. An analysis of homeschooled children was also conducted. Because comparable

4

 In some cases, the public, assigned school could also be the school the parent chose and the public,

chosen school could also be the assigned school. Responses were coded into assigned or chosen based on

the parents’ response. No definitions were provided and no explicit follow-ups were used. The question

wording used in the 1996 and 1999 NHES, “Is the school church-related or not church-related?” was

changed from the 1993 NHES question “Is the school affiliated with a religion?” to reflect the wording

used in the questionnaire for the 1997 October supplement to the Current Population Survey.

2
data were not available from the 1993 and 1996 collections, the homeschool analysis focuses on 

1999.

The analysis of school choice presented in this report uses data for students enrolled in 1st

through 12th grades.5 The NHES surveys used in the analysis are the School Readiness Survey of 

1993 (SR-NHES:1993) combined with the School Safety & Discipline Survey of 1993 (SS&DNHES:1993), the Parent & Family Involvement Survey of 1996 (PFI-NHES:1996), and the 

Parent Survey of 1999 (Parent-NHES:1999).

5

 Kindergarten attendance is not mandatory in all states, therefore students in kindergarten were excluded

from the analysis. Also, the analysis of parent satisfaction and involvement examines children in grades 3–

12 only and the analysis of postsecondary education examines children in grades 6–12 only because of data

availability.

3
Background

Despite the continued debate about school choice, various local governments and states 

have implemented a range of school choice programs, both public and private. The types of 

school choice programs implemented have ranged from allowing students to attend any school

within their local public school district to providing them with some public funds, often referred 

to as school vouchers, to attend a private school of their choice. In addition, some parents choose 

to school their children at home. For policymakers, educators, and parents, the school choice

movement has raised social and economic questions about how various types of choice options

may affect equity in elementary and secondary education compared to the existing system.

Policymakers on both sides of the debate over the implications of alternatives to the traditional 

public school system are concerned about how school choice options will ensure that all students, 

regardless of their individual and family characteristics or ability, have access to quality

schooling and to information about their options (Archibald 1996). A number of factors central 

to the debate over school choice are discussed below.6

Control of school, region, district size

Since states and local governments are primarily responsible for implementing education

legislation and for funding their public schools, the types of school choice available to families

vary from state to state and locality to locality.7

 The variation in state legislation also creates

regional variation in the availability of school choice. During the 1999–2000 school year, 71 

percent of school districts in the West, 63 percent in the Midwest, 44 percent in the South and 19 

percent in the Northeast allowed for intradistrict or interdistrict school choice options.8

 Charter

school options were not as geographically widespread.9

 In 1999, 50 percent of charter schools 

(Footnotes continued on next page)

6

 The reader should note that choice of residence is often included in discussions of school choice,

however, the data examined here do not allow for analysis of parents’ choice of residence. 7

 State, local, and intermediate governments financed over 90 percent of public education in 1993, 1996,

and 1999 with state and local/intermediate governments contributing almost equally (U.S. Department of 

Education 2000b, U.S. Department of Education 2000c).

8

 Unpublished estimates from the 1999–2000 Schools and Staffing Survey, “School District Survey.” 9

 Charter schools are defined in the glossary on the U.S. Department of Education website for No Child Left 

Behind as “independent public schools designed and operated by educators, parents, community leaders, 

educational entrepreneurs, and others. They are sponsored by designated local or state educational

4
were located in only four states—Arizona, California, Michigan, and Texas (Nelson, et. al. 2000).

Publicly funded school voucher programs are even more rare. Currently, there are six school 

voucher programs in the United States—in Colorado, Florida, Maine, and Vermont, and in 

Milwaukee, Wisconsin and Cleveland, Ohio (Washington Post 2003, Schulte 2002).

Additionally, state and local laws governing homeschooling vary widely (Klicka 2001).

Apart from differences across state and local governments, the types of school choice

available to families are influenced by a number of other factors. District size is one such factor.

Students living in large districts with more schools have more opportunity for public school 

choice within districts (intradistrict choice) while students living in areas with few schools per 

district may only be able to choose a different public school by enrolling in schools in other 

districts (interdistrict choice). For example, in 1993-94, one-third of school districts with 10,000

or more students had intradistrict choice compared to 9 percent of school districts with less than 

1,000 students (U.S. Department of Education 1996a).

Family structure, parents' education, household income 

While public schools are supported by state and local government funds, private schools 

have traditionally been supported by tuition and fees or private endowments and donations. The

cost of sending children to a private school tends to limit private education to children from

families who can afford such schools. Families with more highly educated parents and families

with both parents living in the household generally earn higher incomes than other families (U.S.

Department of Education 1999). Children from these higher educated and higher income families

are more likely than other children to attend private schools (U.S Department of Education 1995).

Race/ethnicity

Data from the 1993 and 1999 October supplement to the Current Population Survey

(CPS) show that students who attend publicly controlled schools are more racially and ethnically

organizations, who monitor their quality and effectiveness but allow them to operate outside of the

traditional system of public schools.” Available http://www.nclb.org/start/glossary/index.html.

5
diverse than students who attend privately controlled schools.10 The data show that in both years,

34–38 percent of students enrolled in public schools for elementary and high school grades were 

non-White compared to 21 percent of students enrolled in private schools.11

Irrespective of how public and private schools compare to one another in racial and 

ethnic diversity, public school choice has been used by many school districts, especially those in

large cities, to foster racial integration in the public school system.12 Magnet schools, for 

example, are typically established in urban school districts with enrollments of greater than 

10,000 students (Goldring and Smrekar 2000). In case studies of Cincinnati and St. Louis in the

1993–94 school year, the racial balance of the magnet schools studied ranged from 57 to 46 

percent Black students in Cincinatti and 62 to 51 percent Black students in St. Louis with White 

students making up most of the difference. In nonmagnet schools in Cincinnati, the percentage of 

Black students ranged from 85 to 30 percent Black, and in St. Louis, from 88 to 26 percent 

(Goldring and Smrekar 2000). In Cincinnati, 66 percent of students enrolled in the district were 

Black and in St. Louis, 78 percent of students enrolled were Black.

Disability status

Because private schools have not historically depended on public funds, they are 

generally not required to follow state and federal regulations about admissions and curricula.

While states have the power to regulate private schools with “reasonable regulations,” most states

make exceptions for religious schools based on the First Amendment’s guarantee of free exercise

of religion (U.S. Department of Education 2000a). Students with disabilities are provided 

appropriate educational services under the 1975 Individuals with Disabilities Education Act 

(IDEA) as well as the Vocational Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the 1990 Americans with 

Disabilities Act. These federal laws require public schools to provide a free appropriate public

10 The October supplements to the CPS are used to estimate school enrollment figures in the United States.

To assure that CPS estimates were as comparable as possible to the 1993 and 1999 end points used in this 

report, the 1993 and 1999 CPS data were used.

11 U.S. Census Bureau, Current Population Survey (June 1, 2001 Internet release date) Historical Tables,

Table A-1. School Enrollment of the Population 3 to 34 Years Old, by Level and Control of School, Race,

and Hispanic Origin: October 1955 to 2000.

12 Desegregation plans have also used strategies whereby students are assigned to particular schools to

achieve more racially integrated schools.

6
education for students with disabilities (Ladd and Hansen, eds. 1999). These legal requirements 

might suggest that a disproportionate number of disabled students will be found in public schools.

If a public school is unable to provide a student with a disability with a free appropriate public

education through its own programs, it can place that student at a private school for purposes of 

providing that child an appropriate education. In this situation, the child's program is provided at 

public expense and at no cost to the parents. If a public school district has made a free appropriate 

public education available to a child, and a parent places their child at a private school, the public 

school district is not required to pay for the child's education at the private school.13 However, 

students with disabilities or teachers at private schools may be able to participate on an equitable 

basis in federally-assisted programs or services in connection with their private school placements 

(U.S. Department of Education 2000a).

Parent Involvement and Satisfaction, and Plans for Postsecondary Education 

Three outcomes to consider when studying school choice are parents’ involvement with 

their children’s school, parents’ satisfaction with the schools and students’ plans for

postsecondary education.14 These outcomes are discussed below. 

Parent involvement

The debate surrounding school choice considers how choice programs may or may not

benefit students’ academic performance. Previous research has suggested that one key element to 

high academic performance is parent involvement in their children’s education (Nord, Brimhall & 

West 1997). Parents are generally more involved with private schools than with public schools 

(Hausman & Goldring 2000, Algozzine et.al. 1999, Nord, Brimhall & West 1997, Vaden-Kiernan 

& Chandler 1996) and parents who have more choices in schools have been found to be more

involved (Hoxby 1998). It is important to consider that the relationship between private schools 

and parent involvement may also be mediated by the characteristics of parents who use private 

schools. For example, parent involvement in schools has been shown to increase for two-parent 

13 Some private schools specialize in education for students with disabilities.

14 Student achievement is another important outcome measure for comparing school types; however, NHES

surveys are not well suited to this type of research because there are no direct measures of student

achievement on NHES surveys.

7
families, and parents with more education. These families and parents are most likely to place

their children in private schools (Nord, Brimhall & West 1997). In addition, private schools often 

require parents to be active in school functions and activities, which may contribute to the higher 

involvement of parents of students in private schools (Nord, Brimhall & West 1997). 

Research suggests that parents are more involved when their children attend religious 

schools (Coleman & Hoffer in Arum & Beattie, eds. 2000). One of the reasons thought to 

contribute to high parent involvement in religious schools is that they foster strong social 

networks among the families whose children attend them. Coleman and others argue that social 

networks are an important resource, similar to resources like income or parent’s education, that 

helps parents to be more involved in their children’s schools (Nord, Brimhall & West 1997, 

Coleman & Hoffer 1987).

Parent satisfaction

In addition to being more involved, parents of children who attend private schools are 

generally more satisfied with their children’s schools than are parents of children who attend 

public schools (Hausman & Goldring 2000, Algozzine et al. 1999). That parents who chose 

private schools for their children are more satisfied with those schools than other parents, may be 

associated with one or all of several factors. First, parents may be more satisfied because they 

feel students are generally better prepared academically in private schools than public schools 

(Choy 1997). Second, satisfaction may simply have to do with having the opportunity to make a 

choice. Third, satisfaction could come from being able to choose a school that matches family 

needs and interests. Fourth, parents’ choice may color their perception of the schools they choose

for their children. Lastly, parents may feel empowered by having the option to pull their children 

out of schools they have chosen and may exercise greater influence over school practices and

policies because of their ability to leave if the school does not meet their needs (Hausman & 

Goldring 2000, Ogawa & Dutton 1997, Erickson 1982).

Plans for postecondary education 

Data show that students who expect to graduate from a four-year college are much more

likely to do so than students with lower postsecondary expectations (U.S. Department of 

8
Education 2001). Prior research also shows that private school students are more likely to be 

enrolled in a postsecondary institution a year after graduating from high school than are public

school students (U.S. Department of Education 1996b). Apart from student expectations, parental 

expectations about their children’s college attendance and college completion have also been 

shown to be positively related to whether their children attend and complete college (Ingels et al. 

2002). The analysis in this report studies the possible relationships between the type of school a 

child attends and parental expectations for that child’s postsecondary education. 

Data Sources 

This report is based on data from the 1993, 1996, and 1999 National Household 

Education Surveys Program (NHES) sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education, National

Center for Education Statistics. In each survey year, parents were asked whether or not their

children attended a public or private school, if the public school was a regularly assigned school 

or a school parents chose, and whether or not a private school was church-related. These data 

provide a basis for examining further some of the public and private school differences noted 

above and for extending the analysis to include comparisons with public, chosen schools.

Specifically, the data used in the analysis are from the 1993 School Readiness Survey and the 

1993 School Safety & Discipline Survey, the 1996 Parent & Family Involvement Survey, and the 

1999 Parent Survey. Each NHES survey uses telephone interviews of U.S. households. Full 

NHES samples range in size from 45,000 to 60,000 households.15 When appropriately weighted,

15 For more information about the specific survey years, see the Survey Methodology and Technical Notes

section of this report or the Data File Users Manuals for the four surveys used in this report. These

manuals are cited below and are available on-line at http://nces.ed.gov/nhes. U.S. Department of Education.

National Center for Education Statistics. National Household Education Survey of 1993: School Readiness

Data File User’s Manual, NCES 94–193, by J. Michael Brick, Mary Collins, Mary Jo Nolin, Peter C. Ha,

Mary Levinsohn, and Kathryn Chandler. Washington, DC: 1994. U.S. Department of Education. National

Center for Education Statistics. National Household Education Survey of 1993: School Safety and

Discipline Data File User’s Manual, NCES 94–218, by J. Michael Brick, Mary Collins, Mary Jo Nolin,

Peter C. Ha, Mary Levinsohn, and Kathryn Chandler. Washington, DC: 1994. U.S. Department of 

Education. National Center for Education Statistics. National Household Education Survey of 1996: Data

File User’s Manual, Volume I and Volume III: Parent and Family Involvement in Education and Civic

Involvement-Parent Data File, NCES 97–423, by Mary Collins, J. Michael Brick, Mary Jo Nolin, Nancy

Vaden-Kiernan, Susan Gilmore, Kathryn Chandler, and Chris Chapman. Washington, DC: 1997. U.S.

Department of Education. National Center for Education Statistics. National Household Education Survey

of 1999: Data File User’s Manual, Volume I and Volume II: Parent InterviewData File, NCES 2000–081,

by Mary Jo Nolin, Jill Montaquila, Jean Lennon, Brian Kleiner, Kwang Kim, Christopher Chapman,

Kathryn Chandler, Sean Creighton, and Stacey Bielick. Washington, DC: 1997.

9
each sample is nationally representative of all civilian, non-institutionalized persons in the 50

states and the District of Columbia. The samples were selected using random-digit-dialing (RDD)

methods, and the data were collected using computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) 

technology.

This report uses data reported by parents about children in grades 1 through 12. Data

were collected about 16,957 children in 1993, 16,145 children in 1996, and 15,939 children in

1999. The unit of analysis in the NHES parent interviews is the child and not the parent or 

guardian. All percentages referenced in this report are the percentage of children whose parents 

or guardians reported particular information about them.

Measuring School Choice 

Although school choice programs come in many different forms, for purposes of this 

report school choice is defined as enrollment in public, chosen schools or enrollment in private 

schools, regardless of the type of public, chosen school or whether the student received a voucher 

to attend private school. In addition, part of the analysis also considers homeschooling as a form

of school choice. Private schools were split into private, church-related schools and private, not 

church-related schools. The final school type considered is public, assigned schools. Although 

the assigned school could also be the school of choice, data from the NHES surveys did not 

consistently ask parents to make that distinction.16

Because the NHES surveys are surveys of households and not schools, data from the 

collections cannot measure the availability of school choice programs. Information about school 

choice availability can be found in other school-based data collections such as the 1993-1994 or 

1999-2000 Schools and Staffing Survey (U.S. Department of Education, National Center for 

Education Statistics).

16 In the NHES:1993, less than 2 percent of parents of students volunteered that their assigned school was

their school of choice. Because these parents may have moved into an area so that their children could

attend a particular school, these cases are considered “chosen” schools in this analysis. These data were not

specifically recorded in 1996 or 1999. The discrepancy between the survey years likely has little effect on

the results. Because these 1993 cases were coded as “chosen schools,” assigning them elsewhere or

excluding them from the analysis would only increase the differences already found in the data.

10
Measuring Parent Involvement and Satisfaction, and Student Plans for Postsecondary 

Education

The analysis of parent satisfaction and involvement is based on students in 3rd through

12th grades. Questions on parent satisfaction and involvement were not asked of parents of 1st and 

2nd graders in the NHES:1993, therefore the population in the outcomes analysis is limited to 

grades 3 through 12 to allow for comparison between the survey years. The analysis for 

students’ plans for postsecondary education is limited to parents of students in the 6th through 12th

grades. Parents of younger children were not asked about their children’s plans for postsecondary

education.

The NHES surveys used in this report measure parent satisfaction by asking parents how 

satisfied they are with four aspects of their children’s schools: the school; the teachers; the 

academic standards; and the order and discipline maintained in the school. Parents are asked to 

rate their satisfaction as very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, somewhat dissatisfied, or very

dissatisfied. The analysis of parent satisfaction in this report considers parents of children in each

school type who were very satisfied with each aspect of their children’s schools. Parent

involvement is measured by a series of questions that ask about parents’ attendance at different 

parent/school activities since the beginning of the school year: a general meeting, such as a PTA 

meeting; a parent/teacher conference; a school event, such as a sports event; and a parent 

volunteer event, such as chaperoning a school dance. The analysis considers each activity

individually and measures attendance as a binary variable, “yes, attended” or “no, did not attend.”

11
Findings

Student and Household Characteristics by Public and Private School Types 

Data from the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) show that the 

percentage of children enrolled in public, assigned schools for 1st through 12th grades decreased

from 80 percent in 1993 to 76 percent in 1999. The decrease in public, assigned school 

enrollment was almost completely offset by an increase from 11 to 14 percent in public, chosen

school enrollment. Enrollment in private, church-related schools remained relatively stable at 7 or 

8 percent between 1993 and 1999 and enrollment in private, not church-related schools stayed at 

2 percent. Most of the overall change in enrollment took place between 1993 and 1996 (figure 1).

Figure 1.— Percentage of students enrolled in grades 1–12 by public and private school type:

1993, 1996, and 1999

NOTE: Includes homeschooled students enrolled in public or private schools for 9 or more hours per

week.

80

11 8

2

76

14

8

2

76

14

7 2

0

20

40

60

80

100

Public, assigned Public, chosen Private, churchrelatedPrivate, not

church-related

1993 1996 1999

Percent enrolled

SOURCE: U.S Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Readiness

Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 1993, School Safety and

Discipline Survey of the NHES, 1993, Parent & Family Involvement Survey of the NHES, 1996, and

the Parent Survey of the NHES, 1999.

The general patterns and trends in enrollment in the four types of schools studied here

were broadly reflected across a wide range of students from many different backgrounds. Table 1 

12
shows the estimates and standard errors for these data.17 The following discussion considers 

differences in the type of school attended by students’ grade, sex, race and ethnicity, disability

status, household income, parents’ education, family structure, region, and urbanicity of students’

residence.

Students’ grade and sex 

In 1993, there were few differences in enrollment in types of schools among grade 

groups. However, by 1996 and 1999 there were differences in enrollment. In 1996 and 1999, a 

higher percentage of students in grades 6 to 8 attended public, assigned schools than did students

in grades 1 to 5 while a higher percentage of students in grades 1 to 5 and grades 9 to 12 attended

public, chosen schools than did students in grades 6 to 8. In the private school types, in all survey

years, students in grades 1 to 5 were more likely to attend private, church-related schools than 

were students in the upper grades, 9 to 12. There were no differences detected among grade 

groups and years for students in private, not church-related schools. 

Overall, girls and boys followed the same patterns of enrollment in school types as the 

overall population with a decrease in public, assigned school enrollment over the survey years

and an increase in public, chosen school enrollment. Slightly more girls attended private, churchrelated schools in 1993 (8 percent vs. 7 percent) and slightly more boys attended private, not 

church-related schools in 1996 (3 percent vs. 2 percent).

Race and ethnicity 

In each survey year, a smaller percentage of Black students than White students attended

public, assigned schools. In 1999, the rate of assigned school enrollment for Black students (71 

percent) was 6 percentage points lower than the rate of enrollment for White or Hispanic students 

(77 percent each). In each year, Black students had a higher rate of enrollment in public, chosen

schools than did Hispanic students, and Black and Hispanic students had higher enrollment rates 

in public, chosen schools than White students. Black students were enrolled in public, chosen 

schools at a rate of 19 percent in 1993 and 23 percent in 1999 while Hispanic students were 

17 For additional details about this population, please see table A1 in appendix A. 

13
enrolled at a rate of 14 percent in 1993 and 18 percent in 1999. Nine and 11 percent of White 

students were enrolled in public, chosen schools in 1993 and 1999, respectively (table 1). A 

larger percentage of White students attended each type of private school than did Black or 

Hispanic students in all three years.

Disability status 

In 1999, about 75 percent of students with a disability attended public, assigned schools, 

16 percent attended public, chosen schools, 6 percent attended private, church-related schools, 

and 2 percent attended private, not church-related schools. The percentage of students with 

disabilities attending private, church-related schools (6 percent) was two percentage points lower

than the percentage of students with no disabilities attending private, church-related schools (8 

percent). There were no differences detected in public, assigned and public, chosen school 

enrollment or in private, not church-related school enrollment for students with and without

disabilities. Comparable data on students with disabilities are not available for 1993 and 1996,

therefore it is not possible to report on a trend in the enrollment of these children.

14
Table 1.— Percentage of students enrolled in grades 1–12 by public and private school types, and by student and household characte

1999

School type

Student and household Public, assigned Public, chosen Private, church-related characteristics 1993 1996 1999 1993 1996 1999 1993 1996 1999 

% s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e

 Total 80 0.4 76 0.5 76 0.4 11 0.4 14 0.4 14 0.4 8 0.3 8 0.3 7 0.3 

Grade level 

 Grades 1–5 79 0.6 74 0.7 74 0.6 12 0.4 15 0.5 15 0.5 8 0.4 9 0.4 9 0.4  Grades 6–8 81 1.2 79 0.9 79 0.8 10 1.3 11 0.6 12 0.7 7 0.5 7 0.5 7 0.4  Grades 9–12 81 0.8 76 0.7 77 0.7 11 0.5 14 0.6 16 0.6 7 0.5 7 0.4 5 0.4 

Race/ethnicity

 White, non-Hispanic 81 0.5 77 0.6 77 0.5 9 0.4 11 0.4 11 0.4 9 0.4 9 0.4 9 0.4  Black, non-Hispanic 77 1.0 73 1.4 71 1.2 19 0.8 22 1.3 23 1.2 3 0.4 4 0.4 4 0.5  Hispanic 79 1.1 76 1.1 77 1.0 14 1.0 16 0.9 18 1.0 6 0.5 6 0.7 4 0.4  Other, non-Hispanic 73 2.8 69 1.8 73 2.2 15 2.9 19 1.8 17 2.0 9 1.4 10 1.2 7 1.1 

Sex

 Male 81 0.5 77 0.6 76 0.6 11 0.4 13 0.5 14 0.5 7 0.4 8 0.4 7 0.3  Female 79 0.6 76 0.7 75 0.6 11 0.5 14 0.6 15 0.5 8 0.4 8 0.3 8 0.4 

Disability status

 Has a disability — — — — 76 0.9 — — — — 16 0.8 — — — — 6 0.4  Does not have a disability — — — — 76 0.5 — — — — 14 0.4 — — — — 8 0.3 

Household income

$10,000 or less 83 1.1 77 1.5 74 1.6 14 0.9 19 1.4 22 1.5 3 0.5 3 0.5 3 0.6 

10,001–20,000 82 1.6 79 1.1 78 1.1 14 1.7 16 1.1 17 1.0 3 0.4 4 0.6 3 0.5 20,001–35,000 82 0.6 78 0.9 78 0.8 11 0.6 14 0.8 16 0.7 7 0.6 6 0.5 4 0.4 35,001–50,000 80 1.0 77 0.9 77 0.9 10 0.6 12 0.8 14 0.7 9 0.7 9 0.6 8 0.6 50,001–75,000 77 0.9 76 0.9 78 0.9 9 0.6 10 0.6 11 0.6 11 0.7 12 0.8 9 0.7 

 More than $75,000 72 1.4 68 1.1 70 0.9 8 0.6 11 0.7 10 0.6 14 1.1 15 0.9 14 0.7 

See footnotes at end of table

15
Table 1.— Percentage of students enrolled in grades 1–12 by public and private school types, and by student and household char

and 1999—Continued

School type

Student and household Public, assigned Public, chosen Private, church-related Pcharacteristics 1999 1999 1

% s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % 

Total 80 0.4 76 0.5 76 0.4 11 0.4 14 0.4 14 0.4 8 0.3 8 0.3 7 0.3 2 

Parents highest level of education

 Less than high school diploma 84 1.1 79 1.7 80 1.4 14 1.1 17 1.5 18 1.5 2 0.5 2 0.5 2 0.4 #  High school diploma or GED 84 0.6 82 0.8 80 0.8 11 0.6 12 0.8 14 0.7 5 0.3 5 0.4 4 0.4 1  Some college/vocational/technical 80 0.7 76 0.9 77 0.7 11 0.7 15 0.7 15 0.7 8 0.5 7 0.5 6 0.4 1  Bachelor's degree 76 1.4 71 1.2 72 1.1 9 0.7 13 1.0 13 0.8 13 1.0 13 0.9 13 0.8 3  Graduate/professional school 73 1.1 66 1.2 68 1.1 10 0.7 13 0.9 13 0.7 13 0.9 15 1.0 13 0.8 4 

Family structure

 Two parents 80 0.5 76 0.5 77 0.5 9 0.5 12 0.4 12 0.4 9 0.3 10 0.4 8 0.4 2  One parent 79 0.8 75 0.9 74 0.7 15 0.6 18 0.9 18 0.6 5 0.5 5 0.4 5 0.4 1  Non-parent guardians 84 2.3 80 2.9 73 2.6 14 2.0 15 2.1 22 2.7 2 0.5 2 0.7 4 0.8 1 

Region

 Northeast 78 0.8 74 1.0 74 1.1 9 0.6 13 0.9 14 0.8 11 0.7 9 0.9 9 0.6 2  South 82 0.6 79 0.6 78 0.6 11 0.4 13 0.5 14 0.5 5 0.3 6 0.4 6 0.4 2  Midwest 80 0.8 75 0.9 76 0.8 10 0.6 12 0.8 13 0.8 9 0.5 11 0.7 9 0.6 1  West 79 1.1 74 1.0 75 0.9 13 1.0 18 0.8 18 0.7 7 0.5 6 0.5 5 0.4 2 

Urbanicity

 Urban, inside urban area 75 0.5 71 0.6 71 0.5 14 0.4 16 0.6 17 0.4 10 0.4 10 0.4 9 0.3 2  Urban, outside urban area 87 0.8 81 1.1 82 1.1 8 0.8 11 0.9 12 0.9 5 0.4 7 0.7 5 0.6 1  Rural 88 1.1 85 0.8 85 0.8 7 1.1 9 0.6 11 0.6 4 0.5 4 0.4 4 0.4 1 

— Not available.# Rounds to zero.SOURCE: U.S Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Readiness Survey of the National Household Education S

1993, School Safety and Discipline Survey of the NHES, 1993, Parent & Family Involvement Survey of the NHES, 1996, and Parent Survey of the NNOTE: s.e. is standard error. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding. Includes homeschooled students enrolled in public or private schools 

week. The categories for household income are in current dollars, which have not been adjusted for inflation. Hence, they do not reflect the same puyears.

1993 1996 1993 1996 1993 1996 1999

16
Household income 

The most noticeable trend in public school enrollment was the movement away from

public, assigned school enrollment and toward public, chosen school enrollment by the lowestincome students (see figure 2). In 1993, a higher percentage of students living in households with

incomes of $10,000 or less attended public, assigned schools (83 percent), than did students 

living in households with incomes of more than $75,000 (72 percent). Differences were rare or

not detected in the middle-income categories, compared to the extremes in each year, for students 

in public, assigned schools. 

Figure 2.— Percentage of students enrolled in grades 1–12 in public, assigned and public, chosen 

schools by lowest and highest household income groups ($10,000 or less and more

than $75,000): 1993, 1996, and 1999

Public school enrollment

83

77 74

70 68 72

22 19 14

8 11 10 0

20

40

60

80

100

1993 1996 1999

Survey year

Percent enrolled

 $10,000 or less More than $75,000

Public, assigned schools

Public, chosen schools

NOTE: Includes homeschooled students enrolled in public or private schools for 9 or more hours per week.

The categories for household income are in current dollars, which have not been adjusted for inflation.

Hence, they do not reflect the same purchasing power for the three years.

SOURCE: U.S Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Readiness

Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 1993, School Safety and

Discipline Survey of the NHES, 1993, Parent & Family Involvement Survey of the NHES, 1996, and the

Parent Survey of the NHES, 1999.

17
By 1999, there was no detectable difference in the percentage of students enrolled in 

public, assigned schools between the $10,000 or less and more than $75,000 income ranges.18

The decrease in public, assigned school attendance for students living in households with incomes 

of less than $10,000 was mirrored by an increase in the proportion of these students attending 

public, chosen schools (14 percent in 1993 to 22 percent in 1999). Note that the categories for 

household income are in current dollars, which have not been adjusted for inflation.19

The rate of enrollment in private schools stayed the same for most income groups across 

the six-year period. Students in households with incomes of more than $75,000 had a higher 

enrollment rate in private schools in 1993, 1996, and 1999 than did students in other income

groups. Students in the highest income group (more than $75,000) were enrolled in private, 

church-related schools at about five times the rate of enrollment for students in the lowest income 

group ($10,000 or less) in 1993 and 1999. Comparing the highest income groups and middle

income groups, 14 percent of students living in households with an income of more than $75,000

were enrolled in private, church-related schools in 1993 and 1999, compared to eight or nine

percent of students living in households with an income of $35,000 to $50,000. Enrollment in 

private, not church-related schools had a pattern of enrollment similar to private, church-related 

schools between the highest and lowest income groups and the highest and middle income 

groups, but there were no differences detected between the lowest and middle income groups. 

Parents’ highest level of education 

Parents who are more educated are also more likely than other parents to seek out 

different educational opportunities and choices for their children (Nord, Brimhall & West 1997). 

As expected, in each survey year, students’ whose parents highest education level was a 

bachelor’s degree or a graduate or professional degree had a higher rate of enrollment in private 

18 The data also show a slight increase in enrollment in private, not church-related schools among students

in the lowest income category between 1993 and 1996. While this might have occurred, since the data

reported here are based on parents’ reports of their children’s school enrollment and the change is very

small (2 percentage points), the increase in low-income enrollment in private, not church- related schools

may be an artifact of reporting error. A 1999 field test of this item showed that with the increase in the

number of magnet and charter schools, some parents have difficulty distinguishing between private, not

church-related schools and public, chosen schools because they consider public magnet or charter schools 

to be private schools.

18 Income data are categorical and thus were not adjusted for inflation. Independent analyses not shown

here indicate that the patterns found for unadjusted income are the same as those found using a measure of 

poverty, which adjusts for inflation.

18
schools, both church-related and not church-related, than students whose parents obtained at most

a high school diploma, GED or less.20 Unlike income, differences in public, assigned school 

enrollment among different education levels persisted from 1993 to 1999. Students whose 

parents were relatively well educated were less likely to be enrolled in a public, assigned school

than students whose parents were relatively less well educated. The difference between the 

highest and lowest education levels in 1993 in the percentage of students enrolled in public,

assigned schools (73 vs. 84 percent) was still present in 1999 (68 vs. 80 percent).

During the three-year period between 1993 and 1996, the percentage of students enrolled

in public, assigned schools decreased and the percentage enrolled in public, chosen schools 

increased only for students whose parents attained an education beyond a high school diploma or 

GED. By 1999, students whose parents’ highest level of education was a high school diploma or 

GED also had a decreased rate of public, assigned school enrollment and an increase in public, 

chosen school enrollment. There was no change detected in the rate of enrollment in public,

assigned schools across the 3 time points for students whose parents had less than a high school 

diploma.21

Family structure

Students who lived in households with non-parent guardians (e.g., grandparents or 

godparents) experienced a decrease of 11 percentage points in public, assigned school attendance

between 1993 and 1999 and an 8 point increase in public, chosen school attendance. By 1999, 22

percent of students living in households with non-parent guardians attended public, chosen 

schools—10 percentage points higher than students living in two-parent households. In addition,

a greater percentage of students living in one-parent households attended public, chosen schools 

(18 percent) than did students living in two-parent households (12 percent) in 1999. The pattern

of attendance for students living in households with non-parent guardians is expected because 

many students living with non-parent guardians were Black, non-Hispanic students, lived in

urban areas, and had low household incomes (data not shown in tables). Data presented in this 

report show that Black students, students living in urban areas, and students living in families

20 Statistically, there was one exception, in 1996 there were no differences detected between parents with a

bachelor’s degree and parents with less than a high school degree.

21 Apparent differences for students whose parents had less than a high school diploma were not

statistically significant, possibly because of the relatively large standard errors for those estimates.

19
with a low household income were more likely than other students to attend public, chosen 

schools. Given the relationships found in the data, it is likely that the relationship between family

structure and public, chosen school attendance can be explained, at least in part, by the influence

of these other common factors—race/ethnicity, urbanicity, and household income. A regression 

analysis of the 1999 data shows that the relationship between students living with non-parent

guardians and public, chosen school attendance is not significant once other factors (urbanicity,

income, and race) that are associated with attending public, chosen schools are controlled. 

Students from two-parent families were less likely to be in public, chosen schools than 

were other students. However, students living in two-parent households were more likely to be

enrolled in private, church-related schools than students with one-parent households in all three of 

the survey years. For example, 8 percent of children with two-parent households attended private,

church-related schools, compared to 5 percent of children with one-parent households in 1999.

Region and Urbanicity

Overall, the data suggest that in areas of the country which have been shown to have 

greater availability of school choice in the public school system, namely in the western region of 

the country and in urban areas (U.S. Department of Education 1996a), there is greater use. In 

1999, students living in the West had a higher rate of enrollment in public, chosen schools (18

percent) than students living in any other region (13 to 14 percent). Students living in the 

Northeast and Midwest had a higher rate of enrollment in private, church-related schools than 

students living in the South or West regions. Although the percentage of students enrolled in 

public, chosen schools was higher in the West in 1999, the percentage of students enrolled in 

public schools of choice increased for students in all regions from 1993 to 1999. In general, 

enrollment rates for private, church-related and private, not church-related schools remained 

relatively stable within each of the regions from 1993 through 1999.

Students living inside urban areas were enrolled in public, chosen and private, churchrelated schools at a higher rate than students living just outside urban areas or in rural areas in all 

three survey years.22 Between 1993 and 1999, the rate of enrollment in public, assigned schools

(Footnotes continued on next page)

22 The definitions for these categories are taken directly from the 1990 Census of Population. An urban

area comprises a place and the adjacent densely settled surrounding territory that together have a minimum

20
decreased (four and five percentage points, respectively) and the rate of enrollment in public, 

chosen schools increased (three and four percentage points respectively) for students living inside

and just outside urban areas. While the rate of enrollment in public, chosen schools for students in 

rural areas did increase between 1993 and 1999, there was no detectable decrease in their public,

assigned enrollment rate. Approximately 85 percent of students in rural areas continued to be

enrolled in public, assigned schools in 1999.

Characteristics of Homeschooled Children 

Some parents turn to homeschooling as an alternative to sending their children to public 

or private schools. In 1999, approximately 850,000 students, ages 5 to 17 with a grade equivalent

of kindergarten to grade 12, were homeschooled either full or part-time—accounting for 1.7 

percent of the school-age population (Bielick, Chandler and Broughman 2001). This section uses 

data from the 1999 Parent Survey to compare the characteristics of students who were primarily

homeschooled to the characteristics of students who attended public or private schools in 1999.23

The population analyzed in this section on homeschooling differs from the population in the

previous sections of the report. Because questions were only asked about homeschooled children

ages 5 to 17 years old, the analysis in this section is restricted to just those 1st through 12th graders 

who are 5 to 17 years old.24

Table 2 shows the percentage of students with various demographic characteristics within 

the four types of public and private schools and homeschoolers. The similarities and differences 

among students in the four types of public and private schools described in the previous section 

are also reflected in the estimates in table 2. The estimates in the table suggest that 

homeschoolers differ from students in public and private schools on a number of characteristics. 

population of 50,000 people. Households are considered to be urban if they are located inside this urban

area—referred to in this report as inside urban area— or outside but adjacent to the urban area where the

population is at minimum 2,500 people—referred to in this report as outside urban area. Places not

classified as inside or outside urban areas are rural. 23 For this analysis, students who were primarily homeschooled were defined as students who were

homeschooled and who did not attend public or private schools for more than 8 hours per week. Students

who were homeschooled and who also attended public or private schools for 9 or more hours per week 

were considered to be students in public or private schools.

24 For additional details about this population and how it compares to the full 1st – grade 12 population,

please see table A3 in appendix A. 

21
Table 2.—Percentage of students ages 5–17 enrolled in grades 1–12 by public and private school 

Table 2.—types and homeschool, by student and household characteristics: 1999

School type and homeschool

Student and household

Public, assigned Public, chosen Private, churchrelated

Private, not

church-related Homeschooled*

characteristics

% s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e.

 Total 100 † 100 † 100 † 100 † 100 †

Grade level

 Grades 1–5 43 0.3 47 1.2 52 1.6 47 2.5 44 4.1

 Grades 6–8 26 0.2 21 0.9 26 1.1 24 2.2 24 3.1

 Grades 9–12 30 0.3 32 1.1 22 1.4 29 2.3 32 3.8

Race/ethnicity

 White, non-Hispanic 65 0.5 51 1.4 78 1.3 75 2.3 78 3.8

 Black, non-Hispanic 15 0.3 25 1.3 10 1.0 11 1.8 8 3.0

 Hispanic 14 0.3 17 0.9 7 0.8 7 1.2 8 2.1

 Other, non-Hispanic 5 0.3 6 0.7 5 0.9 7 1.4 6 2.3

Sex

 Male 51 0.6 50 1.1 48 1.8 53 3.5 47 3.6

 Female 49 0.6 50 1.1 52 1.8 47 3.5 53 3.6

Disability status

 Has a disability 21 0.6 22 1.3 16 1.3 23 2.3 24 3.4

 Does not have a disability 79 0.6 78 1.3 84 1.3 77 2.3 76 3.4

Household income

 $10,000 or less 12 0.4 19 1.2 5 1.0 8 2.1 7 2.5

 10,001–20,000 13 0.3 15 0.9 6 0.9 7 1.8 16 3.7

 20,001–35,000 22 0.5 23 1.1 13 1.3 13 2.1 21 3.7

 35,001–50,000 18 0.5 17 0.9 19 1.3 15 2.2 19 3.1

 50,001–75,000 18 0.5 13 0.7 20 1.5 15 1.8 20 3.1

 More than $75,000 18 0.5 14 0.9 38 1.7 43 3.2 17 2.9

Parents highest level of education

 Less than high school diploma 9 0.4 11 1.0 2 0.5 4 1.3 1 0.6

 High school diploma or GED 29 0.5 28 1.4 15 1.3 15 2.5 18 3.2

 Some college/vocational/technical 31 0.5 31 1.4 25 1.6 17 2.5 32 4.1

 Bachelor's degree 15 0.4 15 0.9 29 1.7 21 2.5 25 4.1

 Graduate/professional school 15 0.4 15 0.9 29 1.7 43 3.1 24 4.8

See footnotes at end of table

22
Table 2.—Percentage of students ages 5–17 enrolled in grades 1–12 by public and private school

Table 2.—types and homeschool, by student and household characteristics: 1999—Continued 

School type and homeschool

Student and household

Public, assigned Public, chosen Private, churchrelated

Private, not

church-related Homeschooled*

characteristics

% s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e.

 Total (Percent) 100 † 100 † 100 † 100 † 100 †

Family structure

 Two parents 66 0.5 55 1.1 76 1.7 71 3.1 80 3.6

 One parent 31 0.5 39 1.0 22 1.6 27 3.1 17 3.2

 Non-parent guardians 3 0.2 6 0.7 2 0.4 2 0.7 3 2.0

Region

 Northeast 20 0.3 19 1.1 24 1.3 31 3.1 15 3.9

 South 35 0.4 32 1.2 31 1.4 36 3.2 44 4.8

 Midwest 24 0.4 23 1.1 31 1.6 13 1.8 16 3.0

 West 21 0.3 26 1.1 14 1.2 21 2.2 24 4.0

Urbanicity

 Urban, inside urban area 58 0.5 71 1.1 78 1.4 80 2.4 52 4.5

 Urban, outside urban area 13 0.5 10 0.9 9 1.1 7 1.4 12 2.6

 Rural 28 0.4 19 1.0 13 1.3 13 2.1 36 4.4

† Not applicable

NOTE: s.e. is standard error. Percentages may not add to 100 due to rounding. The categories for household income are in 

current dollars, which have not been adjusted for inflation. Hence, they do not reflect the same purchasing power for the three

years.

SOURCE: U.S Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent Survey of the National Household

Education Surveys Program, 1999.

* Students who are homeschooled and not enrolled in school for 9 or more hours.

Homeschoolers differed from students in public schools in that their parents tended to be 

better educated. Homeschoolers were more likely to be White and to live in two-parent

households than were students in public, assigned or public, chosen schools. With the exception 

of two income groups ($10,000 or less for public, assigned and chosen, and $50,001-75,000 for

public, chosen), no other statistically significant differences in household income were detected 

between homeschoolers and students in public schools.25 Geographically, homeschooled students

were more likely to reside in the South and in rural areas than students in public, chosen schools 

and were less likely to reside in the Midwest than students in public, assigned schools.

Homeschoolers differed from private school students in fewer ways than they differed

from public school students. Homeschoolers were less likely than private school students to live

in households with annual incomes over $75,000. They were also less likely to live in the 

25 Note that standard errors for many of the homeschool estimates are relatively large. Results for these

estimates should be interpreted with caution.

23
Northeast and inside urban areas and more likely to live in rural areas compared to private school 

students. Looking at the different types of private schools, homeschoolers were more likely than

were students in private, church-related schools to have a disability.

Parent Involvement and Satisfaction, and Student Plans for Postsecondary Education

Results prior to this section showed the relationships between key student and family

characteristics and the use of school choice. This section shows how the kind of school children

attended relates to several important behavior and attitudinal variables. In particular, the 

relationships between the type of school students attended, and their parents’ involvement in and 

satisfaction with the students’ schools are examined. The analysis focuses on three questions: 1) 

Are students in schools of choice more likely to have involved parents than students in assigned 

schools? 2) Are students in schools of choice more likely to have parents who are satisfied with 

their children’s schools than students in assigned schools? 3) Do parents of students in schools of 

choice have greater expectations for their children’s postsecondary education than parents of 

students in other schools? 

The population considered in this section differs from the population in the previous

sections of the report. Because questions about parent satisfaction and involvement were only 

asked for students in 3rd through 12th grade in 1993, the analysis in this section is limited to just 

those students for each survey year. Parents of homeschoolers were not asked about their level of 

satisfaction nor their involvement in public or private schools.26

Parent satisfaction

Parents who chose the schools their children attended were more satisfied with the

schools their children attended than were other parents. In both 1993 and 1999, higher

percentages of parents of students in grades 3 to 12 who attended private school (both churchrelated and not church-related) were very satisfied with their children’s schools, teachers,

academic standards, and order and discipline than parents whose children attended public school

26 Students who were homeschooled and who also attended public or private schools for 9 or more hours

per week were considered to be students in public or private schools in 1999. Data about these part-time

homeschoolers is not available for 1993 or 1996.

24
(both assigned and chosen).27 Parents of children in public, chosen schools were more satisfied 

than were parents of children in public, assigned schools, but were less satisfied than private 

school parents. Looking only at the 1999 data, parents of students who attended public, chosen

schools were more likely to be very satisfied with the various aspects of their children’s schools

than were parents of students who attended public, assigned schools (table 3, figure 3). Roughly 8 

percent more students in public, chosen schools had parents who were very satisfied with the 

teachers at their school than students in public, assigned schools. This difference widened to 14 

percentage points for parent evaluations of the students’ schools in general.

Table 3.—Percentage of students in grades 3-12 whose parents were very satisfied with 

Table 3.—of their children’s schools by public and private school type: 1993 and 1999 

Public, assigned Public, chosen

Parent satisfaction 1999 1999 1999 1993 1999

% s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e.

Very satisfied with school 52 0.7 48 0.7 61 2.6 62 1.0 83 1.5 80 1.7 80 3.3 76 2.4

Very satisfied with teachers 56 0.8 54 0.6 62 1.8 62 1.0 75 1.6 76 1.9 77 3.2 75 2.9

Very satisfied w/academic

standards 55 0.6 53 0.8 63 3.0 63 1.3 84 1.4 81 1.65 81 3.3 79 2.6

Very satisfied w/order and

discipline 55 0.8 54 0.6 63 1.7 63 1.2 87 1.1 87 1.3 74 3.5 80 2.8

— Not available.

1993 1993

SOURCE: U.S Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Readiness Survey of the National

Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 1993, School Safety and Discipline Survey of the NHES, 1993, and Parent

Survey of the NHES, 1999.

1993

School type

NOTE: s.e. is standard error. Excludes homeschooled students.

Private, churchrelatedPrivate, not churchrelated

27 In 1993, only parents of children in grades 3 to 12 were asked questions about their satisfaction with their

children’s schools.

25
Figure 3.— Percentage of students in grades 3-12 whose parents are very satisfied with various 

aspects of the students’ schools by public and private school type: 1999

48

54

62 62 63 63

87

79 80

54 53

81 76 80 76 75

0

20

40

60

80

100

 Very satisfied with

school

 Very satisfied with

teachers

 Very satisfied

w/academic standards

 Very satisfied

w/order and discipline

Percent

Public,assigned Public, chosen Private, church-related Private, not church-related

NOTE: Includes homeschooled students enrolled in public or private schools for 9 or more hours per

week.

SOURCE: U.S Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Readiness

Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 1993, School Safety and

Discipline Survey of the NHES, 1993, Parent & Family Involvement Survey of the NHES, 1996, and the

Parent Survey of the NHES, 1999.

Parent involvement

Not only did students in private schools have the most satisfied parents, they were also 

more likely than other students to have parents who were involved with their schools (tables 4a 

and 4b). Approximately 93 percent of parents of students in private, church-related and 87

percent of parents of students in private, not church-related schools said they attended a general 

meeting at the school in 1999 compared to 75 percent of parents of students in public, assigned 

and public, chosen schools. Fewer parents of students in each school type reported that they went

to a parent-teacher conference. More parents of students in private schools, both church-related

and not church-related reported attending a school event (84 and 76 percent) in 1999 than did

parents of students in public, assigned or chosen schools (63 and 59 percent). Parents of children 

in private, church-related schools were twice as likely as parents of students in public, assigned 

or chosen schools to volunteer or serve on a committee (65 percent versus 30 percent and 31 

percent, respectively). They were also more likely to volunteer or serve on a committee than were

parents in not church-related private schools (53 percent). While parents of students in public,

26
chosen schools were more satisfied with their children’s schools than parents of students in 

assigned schools, they were generally not more involved.

Table 4a—Percentage of students in grades 3–12 whose parents were involved in various ways with

 their children's schools by public school types: 1993, 1996, and 1999

Public school type

Public, assigned Public, chosen

Ways parents were involved 1999 1999

% s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e.

 Attended a general meeting 75 0.7 73 0.6 75 0.6 73 2.1 73 1.3 75 1.3

Went to a parent-teacher conference — — 65 0.6 66 0.6 — — 70 1.3 67 1.4

 Attended a school event 66 0.8 65 0.6 63 0.7 61 1.8 62 1.5 59 1.4

Volunteered/served on a committee 33 1.1 32 0.5 30 0.5 31 2.8 31 1.3 31 1.2

— Not available.

NOTE: s.e. is standard error. Excludes homeschooled students.

SOURCE: U.S Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Readiness Survey of the

National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 1993, School Safety and Discipline Survey of the NHES, 

1993, Parent & Family Involvement Survey of the NHES, 1996, and Parent Survey of the NHES, 1999.

1993 1996 1993 1996

Table 4b.—Percentage of students in grades 3–12 whose parents were involved in various ways with

 their children's schools by private school types: 1993, 1996, and 1999

Private school type

Private, church-related Private, not church-related

Ways parents were involved 1999 1993 1996 1999

% s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e.

 Attended a general meeting 93 1.0 92 1.4 93 1.0 89 3.1 82 2.85 87 2.5

 Went to a parent-teacher conference — — 82 1.5 86 1.1 — — 75 2.9 74 3.0

 Attended a school event 87 1.3 84 1.3 84 1.4 85 3.5 75 3.0 76 2.7

 Volunteered/served on a committee 66 1.9 68 1.7 65 2.1 59 4.3 47 3.7 53 3.6

— Not available.

NOTE: s.e. is standard error. Excludes homeschooled students.

SOURCE: U.S Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Readiness Survey of the

National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 1993, School Safety and Discipline Survey of the NHES,

1993, Parent & Family Involvement Survey of the NHES, 1996, and Parent Survey of the NHES, 1999.

1993 1996

Plans for postsecondary education

One key measure of academic success given the importance of a college education in the 

current economy is whether students attain additional education after high school. While the 

NHES does not measure actual attendance, it provides data on an important predictor of a 

student’s probability of obtaining education after high school—parents’ expectations for their

27
children’s educational attainment (Ingels et al. 2002). Parents of at least nine out of ten 6th

through 12th grade students thought their children would attend postsecondary education after 

high school regardless of the type of school their child attends. As the 1999 data show, the 

percentage of students attending private, church-related schools whose parents thought they

would attend school after high school was 5 and 6 percentage points higher than public, assigned 

and public, chosen school students. The percentage of students attending private, church-related 

schools whose parents thought they would graduate from a 4-year college was 10 percentage 

points higher than for public school students (tables 5a and 5b). Similar differences were not 

detected for parent expectations between public, assigned and public, chosen school students or

between students in private, not church-related schools and other schools.28

Table 5a.—Percentage of students in grades 6–12 who plan to attend school after high

 as reported by students' parents by public school types: 1993, 1996, 

Public school type

Public, assigned Public, chosen

Plans for postsecondary eduation 1993 1996 1999 1993 1996 1999

% s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e.

Plans for postsecondary education

 Will attend school after high school 92 0.3 91 0.5 92 0.5 93 0.8 91 1.1 91 1.0

 Will graduate from a 4-year college 82 0.4 81 0.6 82 0.7 84 1.5 82 1.6 81 1.4

NOTE: s.e. is standard error. Excludes homeschooled students.

SOURCE: U.S Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Readiness Survey of the

National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 1993, School Safety and Discipline Survey of the NHES,

1993, Parent & Family Involvement Survey of the NHES, 1996, and Parent Survey of the NHES, 1999.

Table 5b.—Percentage of students in grades 6–12 who plan to attend school after high

 as reported by students' parents by private school types: 1993, 1996, 

Private school type

Private, church-related Private, not church-related

Plans for postsecondary eduation

% s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e. % s.e.

Plans for postsecondary education

 Will attend school after high school 97 0.5 97 1.2 97 1.1 96 2.1 95 2.1 96 1.7

 Will graduate from a 4-year college 93 1.1 94 1.8 92 1.8 92 2.9 91 2.5 88 3.2

NOTE: s.e. is standard error. Excludes homeschooled students.

SOURCE: U.S Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Readiness Survey of the

National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 1993, School Safety and Discipline Survey of the NHES,

1993, Parent & Family Involvement Survey of the NHES, 1996, and Parent Survey of the NHES, 1999.

1993 1996 1999 1993 1996 1999

28 Apparent differences between students in private not church-related schools and other schools were not

statistically significant, possibly because of the large standard errors associated with the estimates for 

students attending private, not church-related schools. 

28
Multivariate Analysis of Parent Satisfaction and Level of Involvement

The previous analyses showed that several household, parent, and student characteristics 

are related to the type of school students attend and that school type is related to parents’ 

satisfaction and involvement. Because these household, parent, and student characteristics are

related to the type of school attended by the child, it is possible that these characteristics are what

actually drive the relationship between school-type on the one hand, and parent satisfaction and 

involvement on the other, or both. Although a complete analysis of parent satisfaction and 

involvement is beyond the scope of this report, a multivariate analysis using data from 1999 

examines whether the relationships between school type and parent satisfaction and involvement

remain when other household, parent, and student characteristics are controlled. In addition, the

multivariate analysis considers the effects of parent involvement on parent satisfaction and the 

effects of parent satisfaction on parent involvement to illustrate how the two variables are related.

The multivariate analysis was conducted using ordinary least squares regression analysis.

The results of the analysis are shown in tables 6 and 7. Table 6 shows the results for parent 

satisfaction and table 7 shows the results for parent involvement. In this analysis, parent 

satisfaction is the simple average of each of the 4 satisfaction items. Similarly, level of 

involvement is a sum of the number of activities parents reported they were involved in. Readers 

should refer to the Survey Methodology and Technical Notes section for detailed information

about the regression analysis procedure.

In each table, the multivariate analysis includes three analyses. Analysis 1 shows the 

bivariate relationship between school type and the level of parents’ satisfaction (table 6) and 

involvement (table 7) with their children’s schools. Analysis 2 shows the relationships between 

several household, student, and parent characteristics and the level of parents’ satisfaction and 

involvement with their children’s schools. The third analysis contains the school type variables

and the household, student, and parent variables and shows how school type relates to parents’ 

satisfaction or involvement after controlling for household, student, and parent characteristics.

The results of the regression analysis are summarized below.

29
Parent satisfaction

The regression results indicate that a number of household, parent, and student 

characteristics are related to parent satisfaction (table 6). The results in analysis 3 show that the 

relationship between school type and parent satisfaction remained significant even when 

household, parent, and student characteristics were considered. Parents who chose the schools 

their children attended, both public and private, were more satisfied than parents whose children 

attended public, assigned schools. Students in private schools tended to have parents who were 

more satisfied than students in public schools irrespective of public school type. Those parents 

who were most involved with their children’s schools tended to be more satisfied with them.

Aside from school type, the results show that students’ sex, race/ethnicity, grade, and 

disability status were associated with parental satisfaction. Parents of girls were more satisfied

than the parents of boys and parents of White students were more satisfied than those of Black 

students or other, non-Hispanic students. In addition, the parents of elementary school students

(grades 3 to 5) were more satisfied than parents of high school students (grades 9-12) and parents

of students with no disability were more satisfied than parents of students with a disability.

 Certain characteristics of these students’ parents were also related to parental 

satisfaction. Even when controlling for various student, household, and school characteristics,

parents with a high school education or higher tended to be less satisfied than parents with less 

than a high school education. Parents whose primary home-language was English were less 

satisfied than were other parents.29 Apart from school type, school size as reported by parents also 

seems to be related to parental satisfaction. Generally speaking, students in schools with less than 

1,000 pupils had parents who were more satisfied than students in schools of 1,000 or more.30

29 Parents’ English usage may also be a factor that influences the level of parent involvement in schools in

the United States. It is included in the multivariate analysis to help explain the relationship between

Hispanic ethnicity and parents’ satisfaction and involvement with schools found in previous research (De

La Luz Reynoso & Tidwill 1996).

30 School size is measured by parents’ reports of the number of students who attended their child’s school.

Parents were asked to report a broad category of school size. On average, parents somewhat underestimated

the size of the child’s school when compared to administrative records. Additionally, a separate analysis of

highest and lowest grades in children’s schools was undertaken to determine if the effects of school size

were confounded by a correlation between school size and the grade levels at children’s schools. There

were no meaningful changes in the regression coefficients for school size as a result of this analysis.

30
Table 6.— Coefficients from OLS regressions on 3rd through 12th grade students' parents' reports

of satisfaction with their childrens' school characteristics: 1999 

Analysis 1 Analysis 2 Analysis 3

b s.e. b s.e. b s.e.

Household income

$10,001 to $20,000 -0.04 0.038 -0.03 0.037

$20,001 to $35,000 -0.05 0.034 -0.04 0.034

$35,001 to $50,000 -0.04 0.036 -0.02 0.036

$50,001 to $75,000 -0.01 0.039 -0.01 0.037

$75,001 and above -0.01 0.035 -0.02 0.034

Urbanicity

Urban, inside urban area 0.07* 0.019 0.03 0.019

Urban, outside urban area 0.03 0.025 0.03 0.025

Parent's educational attainment

 High school diploma or GED -0.07* 0.032 -0.07* 0.033

 Some college/vocational/technical -0.12* 0.029 -0.12* 0.029

 Bachelor's degree -0.09* 0.030 -0.10* 0.030

 Graduate/professional school -0.04 0.032 -0.07* 0.032

Sex (female) 0.03* 0.010 0.02* 0.010

Child's grade level

 Grades 3-5 0.16* 0.016 0.17* 0.016

 Grades 6-8 0.02 0.019 0.03 0.019

Race and ethnicity

 Black, non-Hispanic -0.05* 0.018 -0.05* 0.018

 Hispanic -0.03 0.023 -0.02 0.022

 Other, non-Hispanic -0.07* 0.030 -0.07* 0.030

Child has disability -0.14* 0.018 -0.14* 0.017

Parents' English usage

 English only -0.13* 0.030 -0.14* 0.029

 English and another language 0.00 0.051 -0.02 0.052

Family structure

One parent -0.02 0.016 -0.03 0.016

Non-parent guardians -0.02 0.047 -0.03 0.046

School size

 Less than 300 students 0.11* 0.021 0.05* 0.021

 300-599 students 0.06* 0.020 0.04 0.020

 600-999 students 0.05* 0.019 0.04* 0.019

Parent involvement 0.05* 0.006 0.04* 0.006

School type

 Public chosen 0.15* 0.013 0.15* 0.014

 Private non-church related 0.33* 0.024 0.29* 0.024

 Private church related 0.38* 0.017 0.31* 0.019

Constant 3.40 0.007 3.42 0.051 3.44 0.051

Average parent satisfaction 4-point scale (1=low, 4=high)

SOURCE: U.S Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent Survey of the National

Household Education Surveys Program, 1999.

NOTE: s.e. is standard error. Excludes homeschooled students. Results followed by * are significant at the 0.05 level of

significance.

31
Parent involvement

The multivariate analysis 1 in table 7 supports earlier statements that parents whose 

children attended private schools were more involved than parents whose children attended 

public, assigned schools or public, chosen schools.31 However, the relationship between private 

school type and parent involvement was weakened when other household, parent, and student

characteristics were considered. Parents who were more satisfied with their children’s schools 

tended to be more involved with their children’s schools.

Apart from the type of school the student attended, other student, parent and family,

household, and school characteristics were related to parental involvement. Looking at the 

characteristics of the 3rd through 12th grade students, only one student characteristic seemed to 

be related to parent involvement and that was grade of enrollment. Students in grades 6-8 were 

more likely to have involved parents than students in grades 9-12 and students in grades 3-5 were 

the most likely to have involved parents. Parents of students with a race or ethnicity other than

White, Black, or Hispanic were less involved compared to parents of White students.

Considering students’ parents and families, students whose parents have completed at 

least high school and speak English at home and students who live in two-parent families have 

parents who were more involved than students with less educated parents, students with nonEnglish speaking parents, or students who have family structures that do not include two parents.

Looking at household characteristics, students from households making over $20,000 and from

households in rural areas are more likely to have involved parents than students from poorer 

households and households inside urban areas.32 In addition to the type of school the child 

attends, the size of the school as reported by parents also seems to be related to parental 

involvement. Students attending schools with fewer than 1,000 students tend to have more

involved parents.33

31 An OLS regression, not shown, using “public, chosen” schools as the comparison category provided the

result that compares the private schools to a public, chosen schools.

32 Statistically, no differences were detected between students in households with incomes of $10,000 or

less and households with incomes of $10,001 and $20,000.

33 A separate analysis of highest and lowest grades in children’s schools was undertaken to determine if the

effects of school size were confounded by a correlation between school size and the grade levels at 

children’s schools. There were no meaningful changes in the regression coefficients for school size as a

result of this analysis.

32
Table 7.— Coefficients from OLS regressions on 3rd through 12th grade students' parents'

involvement in their children’s schools: 1999

Analysis 1 Analysis 2 Analysis 3

b s.e. b s.e. b s.e.

Household income

$10,001 to $20,000 0.07 0.056 0.07 0.057

$20,001 to $35,000 0.19* 0.055 0.18* 0.055

$35,001 to $50,000 0.33* 0.057 0.32* 0.056

$50,001 to $75,000 0.38* 0.061 0.37* 0.061

$75,000 and above 0.50* 0.062 0.46* 0.061

Urbanicity

Urban, inside urban area -0.02 0.029 -0.06* 0.028

Urban, outside urban area 0.06 0.041 0.05 0.041

Parent's educational attainment

 High school diploma or GED 0.39* 0.058 0.39* 0.058

 Some college/vocational/technical 0.59* 0.055 0.58* 0.056

 Bachelor's degree 0.81* 0.062 0.78* 0.063

 Graduate/professional school 0.86* 0.060 0.83* 0.061

Sex (female) 0.02 0.021 0.02 0.021

Child's grade level

 Grades 3-5 0.80* 0.031 0.81* 0.031

 Grades 6-8 0.38* 0.034 0.39* 0.034

Race and ethnicity

 Black, non-Hispanic -0.03 0.042 -0.02 0.042

 Hispanic -0.03 0.037 -0.02 0.037

 Other, non-Hispanic -0.13* 0.052 -0.12* 0.053

Child has disability -0.05 0.030 -0.05 0.029

Parents' English usage

 English only 0.19* 0.060 0.17* 0.059

 English and another language -0.04 0.108 -0.06 0.105

Family structure

One parent -0.13* 0.030 -0.13* 0.030

Non-parent guardians -0.19* 0.069 -0.19* 0.068

School size

 Less than 300 students 0.19* 0.040 0.11* 0.040

 300-599 students 0.15* 0.031 0.12* 0.032

 600-999 students 0.11* 0.036 0.09* 0.036

Parent satisfaction 0.18* 0.020 0.15* 0.021

School type

 Public chosen -0.01 0.042 0.03 0.039

 Private non-church related 0.54* 0.065 0.25* 0.061

 Private church related 0.86* 0.034 0.48* 0.032

Constant 2.43 0.015 0.41 0.112 0.55 0.114

Number of activities parents attended

SOURCE: U.S Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent Survey of the National

Household Education Surveys Program, 1999.

NOTE: s.e is standard error. Excludes homeschooled students. Results followed by * are significant at the 0.05 level of

significance.

33
Summary and Conclusions

Policymakers, educators, and parents have many questions about alternatives to the 

traditional public school system. This report offers information about students’ and families’ use 

over the past decade of inter or intra-district public school choice, public magnet and charter 

schools, private schools that are both church-related and not church-related, and homeschooling.

And, it sheds light on a number of important questions: Has the use of different types of public or 

private schools changed over time? What are the characteristics of students and families who use 

public or private schools? Have the characteristics of students and families who use public or 

private schools changed over time? Are parents who choose the public or private schools their 

children attend more satisfied with their choices than other parents, are they more involved in

their children’s schools, and are they more likely to expect their children to attend college and 

graduate with a 4-year college degree?

Findings from other studies show that the availability of public school choice has 

increased over the past decade. Findings in this report show that parents are taking advantage of

increased public school choice opportunities. The percentage of students enrolled in public, 

chosen schools increased from 1993 to 1999 while the percentage of students enrolled in public,

assigned schools decreased. The rate of enrollment in private, church-related schools remained 

stable, as did the small percentage of students in private, not church-related schools. There is 

greater use of school choice in those areas, mainly in the West and urban locations, which have 

been found in other studies to have school choice programs more widely available. 

Findings from this report show that private schools have been disproportionately attended 

by students from families with high incomes and headed by parents with higher levels of 

education. Private school students also tended to be White and to live in two-parent households.

However, it also shows that other students and families have used choice in the form of public, 

chosen schools. Students from families with low household incomes and racial/ethnic minorities

used public, chosen schools at a higher rate than did other students. 

Students who were homeschooled bore no close resemblance to the students in any one 

type of public or private schools. Homeschoolers were more likely to come from two-parent

households and to have more highly educated parents than were public school students and were

34
more likely to have lower household incomes and live in rural areas than were private school 

students.

Choosing the public or private school a child attends is associated with parents’ satisfaction 

with their children’s schools. Regardless of whether students attended public, chosen or private 

schools, parents were more satisfied with their children’s schools than were parents whose children

attended assigned schools. Parent involvement was higher in private schools than in public schools,

but parent involvement in public, chosen schools was not higher than parent involvement in public, 

assigned schools.

The distinction between public, chosen and public, assigned schools is an important one.

Findings from this report suggest that public, chosen schools, grouped together across the Nation, 

are attended by students from diverse racial and ethnic backgrounds, family incomes, community

types and among students with disabilities. Public, chosen schools were also associated with 

higher parent satisfaction than public, assigned schools based on parents’ perception of qualities

such as academic standards, teachers, and order and discipline. However, parents of students in 

public, chosen schools were not as satisfied with their children’s schools as were parents of 

students in private schools. Results also indicate that parents of students in public, chosen 

schools were no more involved in their children’s schools than parents of students in public,

assigned schools, and public school children have parents who were generally less involved than

their private school counterparts.

This report cannot answer questions about the availability of public school choice or other 

school choice programs. Research that combines information on both the availability and use of 

school choice could show whether the trends in the use of school choice shown in this report are 

large or small compared to the trends in the availability of school choice programs. Future 

research could also identify whether or not the use of public school choice programs exceeds or

falls short of the rate of growth in the supply of public school choice options. 

35
Methodology and Data Reliability 

The National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES) is a telephone survey

conducted for the U.S. Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics (NCES).

Data collections have taken place from January through early May in 1991 and January through 

April in 1993, 1995, 1996, and 1999. When appropriately weighted, each sample is nationally

representative of all civilian, non-institutionalized persons in the 50 states and District of Columbia.

The samples were selected using random-digit-dialing (RDD) methods, and the data were collected

using computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI) technology.

Data from three administrations of the NHES were used in this report—the School 

Readiness and School Safety and Discipline Surveys from the NHES, 1993, the Parent and Family

Involvement Survey of the NHES, 1996, and the Parent Survey of the NHES, 1999. A screening

questionnaire administered to a member of the household age 18 or older was used to determine

whether any children of the appropriate age lived in the household, to collect information on each

child, and to identify the appropriate parent or guardian to respond for the sampled child. If one or

two eligible children resided in the household, more detailed extended interviews were conducted

about each child. If more than two eligible children resided in the household, generally two were 

sampled as interview subjects. Each interview was conducted with the parent or guardian most

knowledgeable about the care and education of each sampled child. This report is based on subsets

of the total sample collected in each of the survey years, specifically, children in 1st through 12th

grades unless otherwise noted. The 1993 data was collected in two separate extended interviews—

one for children aged three to 2nd grade and one for children in 3rd grade through 12th grade. Data

from these two files were merged to provide information on children in 1st through 12th grades. 

 Response Rates

Screening interviews were completed with 63,844 households in 1993, 55,838 households

in 1996, and with 57,278 households in 1999. The unit response rate for the Screener varied

somewhat between these three survey years: 82 percent in 1993, 70 percent in 1996, and 74 percent

in 1999. The completion rate, or the percentage of eligible sampled children for whom interviews

were completed, was at or near 90 percent for the parent extended interviews in all three survey

years.

36
For all three surveys, item nonresponse (the failure to complete some items in an otherwise

completed interview) was very low. The item nonresponse rates for most variables in this report

were less than 2 percent. For information about specific item response rates see the Data File User’s

Manual for each survey year. All items with missing responses (i.e., don’t know where appropriate,

refused, or not ascertained) were imputed using a hot-deck imputation procedure (Kalton and

Kasprzyk 1986). As a result, no missing values remain.34

 Data Reliability

Estimates produced using data from the NHES are subject to two types of errors, sampling 

and nonsampling errors. Nonsampling errors are errors made in the collection and processing of 

data. Sampling errors occur because the data are collected from a sample, rather than a census of

the population.

 Nonsampling Errors

Nonsampling error is the term used to describe variations in the estimates that may be

caused by population coverage limitations and data collection, processing, and reporting

procedures. The sources of nonsampling errors are typically problems like unit and item 

nonresponse, the differences in respondents’ interpretations of the meaning of the questions,

response differences related to the particular time the survey was conducted, the tendency for 

respondents to give socially desirable responses, and mistakes in data preparation.

In general, it is difficult to identify and estimate either the amount of nonsampling error or

the bias caused by this error. For each NHES survey, efforts were made to prevent such errors from

occurring and to compensate for them where possible. For instance, during the survey design

phase, cognitive interviews were conducted for the purpose of assessing respondent knowledge of

the topics, comprehension of questions and terms, and the sensitivity of items. The design phase 

also entailed extensive staff testing of the computer-assisted telephone interviewing (CATI)

instrument and a pretest in which several hundred interviews were conducted to identify problems 

with the initial questionnaire.

34 For more information on the imputation procedures used in the NHES:1993, NHES:1996 and

NHES:1999, see the following NCES Working Papers: Unit and Item Response, Weighting, and Imputation

Procedures in the 1993 National Household Education Survey (Brick et al. 1997), Unit and Item Response,

Weighting, and Imputation Procedures in the 1996 National Household Education Survey (Montaquila and

Brick 1997) and The NHES:1999 Survey Methodology Report (Nolin et al. 2000a).

37
An important nonsampling error for a telephone survey is failure to include persons who do 

not live in households with telephones. Weighting adjustments using characteristics related to 

telephone coverage were used to reduce the bias in the estimates associated with children who do

not live in households with telephones.

 Sampling Errors

The sample of households with telephones selected for each NHES survey is just one of 

many possible samples that could have been selected from all households with telephones. 

Therefore, estimates produced from each NHES survey may differ from estimates that would have

been produced from other samples. This type of variability is called sampling error because it arises 

from using a sample of households with telephones rather than all households with telephones.

The standard error is a measure of the variability due to sampling when estimating a

statistic; standard errors for estimates presented in this report were computed using a jackknife 

replication method. Standard errors can be used as a measure of the precision expected from a

particular sample. The probability that a complete census count would differ from the sample 

estimate by less than 1 standard error is about 68 percent. The chance that the difference would be 

less than 1.65 standard errors is about 90 percent; and that the difference would be less than 1.96

standard errors, about 95 percent.

Standard errors for all of the estimates are presented in the tables. These standard errors

can be used to produce confidence intervals. For example, an estimated 76 percent of students were

reported to have attended public, assigned school in 1999. This figure has an estimated standard

error of 0.4. Therefore, the estimated 95 percent confidence interval for this statistic is

approximately 75 to 77 percent [76 percent +/– (1.96*0.4)]. That is, in 95 out of 100 samples from

the same population, the estimated participation rate should fall between 75 and 77 percent. 

 Statistical Tests

The tests of significance used in this analysis are based on Student’s t statistics. For

comparisons of proportions, as the number of comparisons at the same significance level increases,

it becomes more likely that at least one of the estimated differences will be significant merely by

chance, that is, will be erroneously identified as different from zero. Even when there is no 

statistical difference between the means or percentages being compared, there is a 5 percent chance

of getting a significant t value of 1.96 from sampling error alone. As the number of comparisons

increases, the chance of making this type of error also increases.

38
In order to correct significance tests for multiple comparisons, a Bonferroni adjustment was

used. This method adjusts the significance level for the total number of comparisons made with a

particular classification variable. All the differences cited in this report are significant at the 0.05

level of significance after a Bonferroni adjustment.

Definitions of Variables 

Most of the variables in this report were taken directly from the data files without 

manipulation. Some variables, such as household income, were collapsed into fewer categories

for the analysis. The multivariate analysis required some additional manipulation of variables.

The definitions of important and unique variables are explained below.

 School type

The school type variable is a derived variable on the data files. In each year it was 

derived from the same series of the following questions:

Does (child) go to a public or a private school?

1=Public

2=Private

Is it (his/her) regularly assigned school or a school that you chose?

1=Assigned

2=Chosen

3=Assigned school is school of choice

(This response category was voluntary and appeared in 1993 only. This response

category was coded as a chosen school in the school type derived variable).

Is the school affiliated with a religion? (1993)

 1=Yes

 2=No 

Is the school church-related or not church-related? (1996, 1999)

 1=Church-related

 2=Not church-related

If the school was classified as public, it was further classified as either assigned or 

chosen. If the school was classified as private, it was further classified as either affiliated or not 

affiliated with a religion (1993) or church (1996, 1999). The response category, “assigned is 

chosen” that appeared in 1993 was coded as a chosen school. 

39
Household Income

Household income is reported as a range in each of the NHES surveys. These ranges 

were collapsed into the following categories for this report: 

$10,000 or less

$10,001 to 20,000

$20,001 to 35,000

$35,001 to 50,000

$50,001 to 75,000

More than $75,000

The categories for household income are current dollars, which have not been adjusted for 

inflation. Hence, they do not reflect the same purchasing power for the three years. 35

Region

Region is determined by the Census definition of regions. The following states and the 

District of Columbia are in each Census region as follows:

Northeast: PA, NY, NJ, CT, RI, MA, VT, NH, ME 

South: OK, TX, MS, AL, TN, KY, WV, MD, DE, DC, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL, LA, AR 

Midwest: ND, SD, NE, KS, MN, IA, MO, WI, IL, MI, IN, OH 

West: WA, OR, CA, NV, AZ, NM, UT, CO, WY, ID, MT, AK, HI 

Urbanicity

This variable categorizes the household ZIP Code as urban or rural. The definitions for 

these categories are taken directly from the 1990 Census of Population. An urban area comprises

a place and the adjacent densely settled surrounding territory that together have a minimum

population of 50,000 people. Households are considered to be urban if they are located inside 

this urban area—referred to in this report as inside urban area—or outside but adjacent to the 

urban area where the population is at minimum 2,500 people—referred to in this report as outside

urban area. Places not classified as inside or outside urban areas are rural.

Disability status 

Data on disability status are based on parent reports. Parents were asked whether or not a 

doctor ever told the parent that the sampled child had several types of disabilities. Each disability 

35 Income data are categorical and thus were not adjusted for inflation. Independent analyses not shown

here indicate that the patterns found for unadjusted income are the same as those found using a measure of 

poverty, which adjusts for inflation.

40
was asked about in a yes/no format. If the parent reported that the child had one or more of the 

disabilities asked about, the child was coded as having a disability.

Number of parents living in the household

Parents include birth, adoptive, step, or foster parents in the household. If two such

parents were in the household, the number of parents living in the household was two. If one 

such parent was in the household, the number of parents living in the household was one. If no 

such parents were in the household, the number of parents was none and is referred to as 

nonparental guardians.

Parent satisfaction with various aspects of the school 

The NHES measures parent satisfaction by asking parents how satisfied they are with 

four aspects of the students’ school: the school; the teachers; the academic standards; and order 

and discipline. Parents are asked to rate their satisfaction as very satisfied, somewhat satisfied, 

somewhat dissatisfied or very dissatisfied. The analysis of parent satisfaction in this report looks 

at parents in each school type who were very satisfied with the students’ school. The multivariate

analysis uses an average satisfaction rating across the four satisfaction items. In order to generate

the scale, the four response categories were reverse coded, where 1=very dissatisfied and 4=very

satisfied. Then the responses to the four items were averaged to produce an overall scale of 

satisfaction that ranged from 1 to 4.

In order to determine the reliability of a scale of parental satisfaction with their children’s

schools, reliability analyses were conducted. Reliability analyses examine the extent to which

multiple items measure the same underlying concept. Reliable measures can be used to create a 

scale to represent the concept. To assess the reliability of the four measures of parents’

satisfaction with aspects of their child’s education, Cronbach’s alpha was used: 

N r

N r

1 ( 1)*

*

+ − α = , where N represents the number of variables and r is the average of the interitem correlation among the variables (Kim & Mueller 1978). Cronbach’s alpha ranges between 0 

and 1, with values closer to 1 indicating greater reliability. The alpha for the parent satisfaction 

scale was .85. There is no absolute rule for acceptably high reliability, but researchers generally 

indicate that alpha levels above .70 indicate high reliability (Darren & Mallery 1999).

41
Parent involvement at the school 

Parent involvement is measured by a series of questions about parents’ attendance at 

different parent/school activities since the beginning of the school year: A general meeting, such 

as a PTA meeting; a parent/teacher conference; a school event, such as a sports game; and a 

parent volunteer event, such as chaperoning a school dance. The analysis considers each activity 

individually and measures attendance as a binary variable, “yes attended” or “no, did not attend.”

The multivariate analysis uses an index of these activities. The index is a sum ranging from 0 to 

4 of the number of types of activities that parents were involved in. The distribution of scores on

the index was 9 percent with no activities, 12 percent with one activity, 23 percent with two, 30

percent with three, and 25 percent with four. 

School size 

School size is measured by parents’ reports of the number of students who attended their 

child’s school. On average, parents somewhat underestimate the size of the child's school when 

compared to administrative records. Parents were asked to report a broad category of school size

from the following four categories:

Under 300 students

300 to 599 students

600 to 999 students

1,000 or more students

Multivariate analysis methods

For the multivariate analyses presented in tables 6 and 7, ordinary least squares (OLS)

regression equations were generated for the parent satisfaction and involvement variables. For 

each of the dependent variables, the first model contains coefficients from the regression of the 

dependent variable on school type only. The second model contains coefficients from the 

regression of the dependent variable regressed on the control variables (e.g., income, parent’s

educational attainment, and child’s sex). In table 6, model 2 also includes parental involvement

as a control variable; in table 7, parental satisfaction is included. In each table, model 3 contains 

the school type variable added to the variables from model two. By comparing the three models, 

it is possible to better evaluate the effect of school type on parent satisfaction and parent 

involvement with their child’s education.

42
Interpreting the coefficients generated in the OLS regression is relatively straightforward.

The slope coefficient, b, represents the linear relationship between the independent and dependent 

variables after holding the effect of all other independent variables constant. It is interpreted as 

the number of units of change in the dependent variable that occur for a one-unit change in the 

independent variable, assuming that the values of all other variables remain constant. For 

continuous independent variables, such as parent involvement in model 3 of table 6, the 

regression coefficient (b=.04) indicates that for each additional type of event that a parent attends, 

his/her satisfaction with the child’s education increases by .04 points on a scale of 1 to 4.

For categorical variables, the association between the independent variable and the 

dependent is evaluated relative to the excluded category of the independent variable. For 

example, the variable “Child’s Grade” contains three categories: grades 3-5, grades 6-8 and 

grades 9-12. The excluded category is grades 9-12. The regression coefficient for grades 3-5 in 

model 3 of table 7 (b=.78) is interpreted relative to the category of grades 9-12. In this example,

the coefficient indicates that parents of children in grades 3-5 attend almost one more (.78) type

of school event than do the parents of children in grades 9-12. 

43
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47
Appendix A 

Tables of Numbers

48
Table A1.— Number of students in grades 1–12 attending public and private schools,

by student and household characteristics: 1993, 1996, and 1999

49

Student and household

characteristics Number s.e. Number s.e. Number s.e.

Number of students (thousands) 42,385 52 45,526 63 47,190 69

School type

 Public, assigned 33,870 165 34,603 231 35,826 207

 Public, chosen 4,669 151 6,228 182 6,840 165

 Private, church-related 3,184 126 36,454 126 3,423 124

 Private, not church-related 662 49 1,040 67 1,101 64

Grade level

 Grades 1–5 18,507 49 19,871 34 20,326 45

 Grades 6–8 11,022 4 11,495 25 11,611 28

 Grades 9–12 12,856 24 14,161 36 15,253 34

Race/ethnicity

 White, non-Hispanic 29,308 93 30,684 140 30,418 179

 Black, non-Hispanic 6,668 45 7,166 84 7,705 101

 Hispanic 4,786 28 5,755 82 6,631 85

 Other, non-Hispanic 1,623 81 1,920 86 2,436 115

Sex

 Male 21,490 253 23,570 249 24,070 217

 Female 20,895 245 21,956 248 23,119 213

Disability status

 Has a disability — — 10,124 216

Does not have a disability — — 37,065 228

Household income

 $10,000 or less 6,215 49 6,476 90 5,806 111

10,001–20,000 7,062 108 6,220 145 6,026 135

20,001–35,000 10,606 180 10,158 182 9,934 187

35,001–50,000 8,117 172 8,656 143 8,258 187

50,001–75,000 6,202 172 7,579 166 8,086 194

 More than $75,000 4,183 135 6,436 165 9,079 204

Parents highest level of education

Less than high school diploma 3,941 165 4,476 149 4,301 152

High school diploma or GED 13,972 253 13,886 212 13,131 211

 Some college/vocational/technical 13,433 202 13,591 229 14,215 217

 Bachelor's degree 5,092 117 6,996 176 7,723 166

 Graduate/professional school 5,947 132 6,577 163 7,820 183

Family structure

 Two parents 29,614 209 31,358 204 30,734 205

 One parent 11,366 187 12,530 197 14,764 200

 Non-parent guardians 1,406 112 1,638 106 1,691 85

Region

 Northeast 7,853 41 9,253 77 9,594 106

 South 14,935 48 15,829 102 16,272 125

 Midwest 10,282 48 10,788 92 11,505 132

 West 9,315 42 9,656 76 9,819 106

Urbanicity

 Urban, inside urban area 25,626 371 27,577 216 29,245 193

 Urban, outside urban area 6,194 208 6,250 184 5,911 187

 Rural 10,565 335 11,699 92 12,033 129

— Not available.

SOURCE: U.S Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Readiness

Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 1993, School Safety and

Discipline Survey of the NHES, 1993, Parent & Family Involvement Survey of the NHES, 1996, and

Parent Survey of the NHES, 1999.

1993 1996 1999

NOTE: s.e. is standard error. Includes homeschooled students enrolled in public or private schools for

9 or more hours per week.
Table A2.— Number of students in grades 3–12, attending public and private schools, by school

type: 1993, 1996, and 1999 (in thousands)

School type Number s.e. Number s.e. Number s.e.

 Public, assigned 28,050 147 28,604 212 29,596 187

 Public, chosen 3,810 149 4,947 163 5,481 152

 Private, church-related 2,550 118 2,824 111 2,730 105

 Private, not church-related 534 47 847 59 880 62

— Not available.

SOURCE: U.S Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Readiness

Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 1993, School Safety and

Discipline Survey of the NHES, 1993, Parent & Family Involvement Survey of the NHES, 1996, and

Parent Survey of the NHES, 1999.

1993 1996 1999

NOTE: s.e. is standard error. Includes homeschooled students enrolled in public or private schools for

9 or more hours per week.

50
Table A3.— Number of students in grades 1–12, ages 5–17, attending public and private schools 

and homeschool by student and household characteristics: 1999 

51

Student and household

characteristics s.e.

Number of students (thousands) 46,380 70

School type

 Public, assigned 34,661 207

 Public, chosen 6,573 169

 Private, church-related 3,349 125

 Private, not church-related 1,068 64

 Homeschooled 729 69

Grade level

 Grades 1–5 20,638 6

 Grades 6–8 11,788 3

 Grades 9–12 13,954 70

Race/ethnicity

 White, non-Hispanic 30,031 177

 Black, non-Hispanic 7,484 105

 Hispanic 6,466 86

 Other, non-Hispanic 2,400 111

Sex

 Male 23,547 225

 Female 22,833 228

Disability status

 Has a disability 9,871 220

 Does not have a disability 36,509 219

Household income

 $10,000 or less 5,648 115

10,001–20,000 5,933 139

20,001–35,000 9,737 186

35,001–50,000 8,141 182

50,001–75,000 7,977 185

 More than $75,000 8,945 204

Parents highest level of education

 Less than high school diploma 4,134 154

 High school diploma or GED 12,835 192

 Some college/vocational/technical 13,957 214

 Bachelor's degree 7,656 177

 Graduate/professional school 7,798 192

Family structure

 Two parents 30,386 198

 One parent 14,338 201

 Non-parent guardians 1,656 87

Region

 Northeast 9,450 108

 South 16,016 131

 Midwest 11,164 130

 West 9,750 102

Urbanicity

 Urban, inside urban area 28,770 195

 Urban, outside urban area 5,753 181

 Rural 11,857 126

Number

1999

NOTE: s.e. is standard error. Includes homeschooled students enrolled in public or private schools for 9 or

more hours per week.

SOURCE: U.S Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Parent Survey of the 

National Household Education Surveys Program, 1999.
Table A4.— Number of students in grades 6–12, attending public and private schools and by school

type: 1993, 1996, and 1999 (in thousands)

School type Number s.e. Number s.e. Number s.e.

 Public, assigned 19,319 120 19,875 157 20,853 46

 Public, chosen 2,523 125 3,280 121 3,732 154

 Private, church-related 1,645 105 1,888 87 1,681 128

 Private, not church-related 392 40 613 48 598 81

— Not available.

SOURCE: U.S Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, School Readiness

Survey of the National Household Education Surveys Program (NHES), 1993, School Safety and

Discipline Survey of the NHES, 1993, Parent & Family Involvement Survey of the NHES, 1996, and

Parent Survey of the NHES, 1999.

1993 1996 1999

NOTE: s.e. is standard error. Includes homeschooled students enrolled in public or private schools for

9 or more hours per week.

52