The Catholic School Advantage in a Changing Social Landscape: Consistency or Increasing Fragility?

For several decades, researchers have examined sector effects on student outcomes. Several argue the presence of a Catholic school advantage (CSA), an effect that shows improvement of educational outcomes upon attendance at a Catholic school. The magnitude of this effect, however, is often debated, particularly in the era of educational reform. In this study, we analyze nationally representative data to examine whether attending a Catholic school consistently promotes educational attainment. On net, we find that students who attend Catholic high schools are more likely to continue in education although this advantage is not persistent across measures of institutional selectivity.