The promise of private education: A case study ofracialized, gendered, and socioeconomicdisparities in achievement in one private school

Background: Private schools have a big part in the educational landscape in the United States, both in terms ofthe number of students they educate and in the number of resources they command. That said, despiteexpectations to increase equity and access to opportunity for all students, little is known about racial, gender, orsocioeconomic achievement trends in this setting. Unlike public schools, there is very limited national-levelachievement data infrastructure for private schools. Analyses of individual schools can begin to illuminatetrends in particular contexts. Purpose of Study: This study examines how achievement differs by race, gender, and socioeconomic status inone private school in the United States, Gardenview Preparatory School (GPS; a pseudonym). Setting: GPS is a traditional private school serving students pre-kindergarten to 12th grade, located in awealthy, predominantly White suburban area of a larger metropolitan region. Leadership in the school haveattempted to prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) work. One of their attempts was to seek a researchcollaboration with the authors of this article. Participants: The primary focus of this article included a quantitative sample of all students graduating fromGPS between the years of 2010 to 2017 (N=1216). Research Design: While the larger research collaboration included mixed methods, this article presentsmultivariable regression models using secondary data. Significant features of the regression models include (1)achievement measures at both admissions to GPS and graduation from GPS, (2) multiple measures ofachievement at graduation, and (3) intersectional analyses. Findings: A key takeaway from this analysis is that demographics are not largely predictive of admissions testperformance at GPS. A second key takeaway, however, is that once GPS students reached high schoolgraduation, larger and more widespread racial, gendered, and socioeconomic disparities emerged. The thirdmajor takeaway from the analysis is that intersections of race and gender do impact achievement upongraduation from GPS. Conclusions: This study is one of the first of its kind to use advanced multivariable regression to mapachievement disparities-at multiple timepoints in a student's career and using multiple measures ofachievement-in a traditional, private school. Without understanding the existence, nature, and extent ofachievement disparities, stakeholders cannot act intentionally to promote equity in private schools and beyond.