Private Schools in the US (2007-2008 Survey)
This report on the 2007-08 Private School Universe Survey presents data on private schools in the United States for grades
kindergarten through twelve by selected characteristics such as school size, school level, religious orientation, geographic region, urbanicity type, and program emphasis.
Summary of findings:
• In the fall of 2007, there were 33,740 private elementary and secondary schools with
5,072,451 students and 456,266 full-time equivalent (FTE) teachers in the United States
• Sixty-eight percent (67.9) of private schools, enrolling 80.6 percent of private school students
and employing 72.3 percent of private school (FTE) teachers, in 2007–08 had a religious
orientation or purpose
• Sixty-eight percent (67.9) of private schools in 2007–08 emphasized a regular
elementary/secondary program. The other program emphases categories—Montessori,
special emphasis, special education, alternative, and early childhood—each contained less
than 14 percent of private schools
• The largest number of private schools in 2007–08 were in suburban locations (12,665),
followed by those in cities (11,212), followed by those in rural areas (6,563), and then by
those in towns (3,300)
• More private school students in 2007-08 were enrolled in schools located in cities
(2,126,230), followed by those enrolled in suburban schools (1,987,714), followed by those
in rural areas (607,095), and then by those in towns (350,602)
• More private school students in 2007-08 were enrolled in kindergarten (515,663) than in any
other grade level
• The average school size in 2007–08 was 150.3 students across all private schools. Private
school size differed by instructional level. On average, elementary schools had 114.9
students, secondary schools had 282.0 students, and combined schools had 193.8 students
• Forty-three percent (42.6) of all private schools in 2007-08 enrolled fewer than 50 students
• Three-quarters (74.5 percent) of private school students in 2007–08 were White, non-
Hispanic; 9.8 percent were Black, non-Hispanic; 9.6 percent were Hispanic, regardless of
race; 5.4 percent were Asian/Pacific Islander; and .6 percent were American Indian/Alaska
Native
• Ninety-six percent (96.0) of all private schools in 2007–08 were coeducational, while 1.8
percent enrolled all girls and 2.2 percent enrolled all boys
• Seventy-nine percent (79.1) of private school teachers in 2007–08 were full-time teachers;
4.6 percent taught less than full time, but at least three-quarter time; 8.6 percent taught less
than three-quarter time, but at least one-half time; 4.5 percent taught less than one-half time,
but at least one-quarter time; and 3.3 percent taught less than one-quarter time
• The average pupil/teacher ratio in 2007–08 was 11.1 across all private schools. The average
pupil/teacher ratio differed by instructional level; it was 12.1 in elementary schools, 11.9 in
secondary schools, and 9.6 in combined schools
• Ninety-eight percent (98.0) of 12th graders enrolled in private schools around October 1,
2006, graduated by the fall of 2007
• Of the 306,605 high school private high school graduates in 2006–07, some 65.0 percent
attended 4-year colleges by the fall of 2007
• In 2007-08, 11,282 private schools did not report membership in any private school
association
• There were more than 250,000 students enrolled in private schools in each of five states:
California, Florida, Illinois, New York, and Pennsylvania
Who is the NCES?
The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the primary federal entity for collecting, analyzing, and
reporting data related to education in the United States and other nations. It fulfills a congressional mandate to
collect, collate, analyze, and report full and complete statistics on the condition of education in the United States;
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and local education agencies in improving their statistical systems; and review and report on education activities in
foreign countries.
NCES activities are designed to address high-priority education data needs; provide consistent, reliable, complete,
and accurate indicators of education status and trends; and report timely, useful, and high-quality data to the U.S.
Department of Education, the Congress, the states, other education policymakers, practitioners, data users, and the
general public. Unless specifically noted, all information contained herein is in the public domain.
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About this survey:
The Private School Universe Survey (PSS) is conducted by the National Center for Education
Statistics (NCES) of the United States Department of Education in order to collect basic
information on American private elementary and secondary schools. The PSS grew out of a
proposal in 1988 to develop a private school data collection that would improve on the sporadic
collection of private school data dating back to 1890 and improve on commercially available
private school sampling frames.
The PSS is currently designed to generate biennial data on the
total number of private schools, teachers, and students, and to build a universe of private schools
to serve as a sampling frame for the NCES sample surveys. The PSS was first collected by the
U.S. Census Bureau in the 1989–90 school year, with data collections every two years since.
How this data was collected:
The 2007–08 Private School Universe Survey utilized a mailout/mailback collection
methodology. Follow-up of non-responding schools was conducted first by computer-assisted
telephone interviewing (CATI), and then by Census Bureau field representatives.
Of the 39,147 cases included in the 2007–08 PSS, 8,170 cases were considered as out-of-scope
(not eligible for the PSS). A total of 28,450 private schools completed a PSS interview, while
2,527 schools were noninterviews (refusals and nonrespondents) resulting in an unweighted
response rate of 91.8 percent
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