Private school

Private schools (also known as 'independent schools'), are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their financial endowment.^[1] Unless privately owned they typically have a board of governors and have a system of governance that ensures their independent operation.


Private schools retain the right to select their students and are funded in whole or in part by charging their students for tuition, rather than relying on taxation through public (government) funding; at some private schools students may be eligible for a scholarship, lowering this tuition fee, dependent on a student's talents or abilities (e.g., sports scholarship, art scholarship, academic scholarship), need for financial aid, or tax credit scholarships that might be available.^[2] Roughly one in 10 U.S. families have chosen to enroll their children in private school for the past century.^[3]


Some private schools are associated with a particular religious denomination or religion, such as Roman Catholicism, various branches of Protestantism or Judaism. Although private schools may have a religious affiliation, the precise use of the term excludes parochial (and other) schools if there is a financial dependence upon, or governance subordinate to, outside organizations. These definitions generally apply equally to both primary and secondary education.

Types[edit]

In the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth countries including Australia, Canada and New Zealand the use of the term is generally restricted to primary and secondary educational levels, and it is almost never used of universities or other tertiary institutions.^[4] Private education in North America covers the whole gamut of educational activity, ranging from pre-school to tertiary level institutions.^[5] Annual tuition fees at K–12 schools range from nothing at so called 'tuition-free' schools to more than $45,000 at several New England preparatory schools.^[6]


The secondary level includes university-preparatory schools or "prep schools", boarding schools, and day schools. Tuition at private secondary schools varies from school to school and depends on many factors, including the school's location, the willingness of parents to pay, peer tuitions, and the school's financial endowment.^[7] High fees, schools claim, are used to pay higher salaries for the best teachers and also used to provide enriched learning environments, including a low student-to-teacher ratio, small class sizes and services, such as libraries, science laboratories and computers. Some private schools are boarding schools, and many military academies are privately owned or operated as well.


Religiously affiliated and denominational schools form a subcategory of private schools. Some such schools teach religious education, together with the usual academic subjects, to impress their particular faith's beliefs and traditions in the students who attend. Others use the denomination as a general label to describe what the founders based their belief, while still maintaining a fine distinction between academics and religion. They include parochial schools,^[8] a term which is often used to denote Roman Catholic schools. Other religious groups represented in the K–12 private education sector include Protestants, Jews, Muslims, and Orthodox Christians.


Many educational alternatives, such as private schools or online schools, are privately financed.^[9] Private schools often avoid some state regulations, although in the name of educational quality, most comply with regulations relating to the educational content of classes. Religious private schools often add religious instruction to the courses provided by local public schools.


Special assistance schools aim to improve the lives of their students by providing services tailored to the particular needs of individual students. Such schools include tutoring schools and schools to assist the learning of disabled children.