Although the vast majority of students in upper secondary education attend public schools, the proportion of students in private schools is substantial and increasing. Nine percent of Norwegian upper-secondary (VGS) students currently attend private schools. Previous research has shown that this student body differs clearly from the average: their parents, on average, have higher socio-economic status on several dimensions, while students with an immigrant background are underrepresented, and the gap between final (standpunkt) grades and grades on anonymous tests is larger at private schools.
This project uses administrative registry data to study differences between different types of private and public schools with respect to student composition, grading, and completion. Central to this project is examining the extent to which systematic differences in student outcomes between different types of private schools and public schools can be attributed to differences in the student intake (selection), grade inflation, the school’s contribution to learning, and/or segregation. Furthermore, we study the effects of the establishment of private schools on school segregation and local student outcomes. We also investigate whether differences in grading have been associated with opportunities to extract dividends/profits from private upper-secondary schools.
Privacy Policy Guidance
This project utilizes personal data from individuals who are difficult to contact for the purpose of providing individual information. The data is processed for research purposes, and the legal basis for the processing is the public interest. The project involves the use of ordinary personal data. The data is obtained from the following source: Statistics Norway (SSB).
The legality and privacy implications of the personal data processing have been assessed prior to the commencement of the project, which adheres to ethical guidelines for research. The Institute for Social Research is the data controller for the project.
Individuals who can be identified in the dataset have rights and may lodge complaints regarding the processing. Please feel free to contact our Data Protection Officer, the project manager, or the Norwegian Institute for Social Research if you have any questions or require guidance.
