Do independent schools perform better — after controlling for demographics?
The most common criticism of comparisons between municipal and independent schools is that they have different pupil compositions. The SALSA model controls for precisely this — parental education level, share of recently immigrated pupils and gender distribution.
The histogram shows the distribution of SALSA scores (actual merit value minus model-calculated) split by municipal and independent operators. The zero line marks where the model predicts the schools should end up.
The dashed lines show the mean for each group. If a group's mean lies clearly away from zero, it indicates a systematic deviation — either consistently better or worse results than what the pupils' backgrounds predict.
Interpret with caution: SALSA explains only half of the variation, and the model does not capture all relevant factors. Resources, pedagogical method, school environment and selection (which pupils gravitate to which schools) can all contribute to differences that the model does not adjust for.
Statistics: academic year 2023/24. Source: Skolverket open data, Kolada and SCB. Processed by Skolkoll. Glossary · About the data.