Troll-There is another reason why private schools do better than public schools: they can turn away students if they choose to. This does not mean that they only accept the smartest students, but that the obligation to make the child care about school is placed on the part of the parents, not the teachers. It is very difficult to make some students care about school, and private schools don't need to deal with that problem. Public schools do, which results in a great deal of effort expended that teaching staff can't afford. Also, I believe that most private schools have a much lower student-teacher ratio than public schools. which has been proven to substantially affect learning. "Throwing money at" the schools isn't a solution, but it is necessary to make sure that students can get the attention they need, and some kind of motivator to succeed in school. I can't think of an easy way to do that, and if you can, I'd love to hear it.