As PP said, all Independent Schools are Private, but not all Private Schools are Independent.

Independent Schools are non-profit, accredited, and governed by an independent board of trustees. They may or may not be religious and are members of the National Association of Independent Schools (NAIS).

Private Schools that are not Independent may meet some of those criteria but not all: for example, Diocese Catholic Schools are non-profit and accredited, but governed by the Catholic Church. Despite its name, Basis Independent McLean is accredited, but is for profit and governed by Spring Education Group and therefore not truly independent. And there are some really bad actor private schools out there that aren't accredited. Always make sure any private school you are interested in is at least accredited.

All independent schools are private. Not all private schools are independent. As a gross generalization, most of the private schools are independent except the Catholic parochial schools. However, there are independent Catholic schools such as Stone Ridge and Georgetown Prep.

OP, if you are interested in Catholic schools, the distinction matters, as indicated by the PPs above.

If you are just thinking about secular or Episcopal or most other private schools, including "Big 3"-type day schools, boarding schools, etc., you will find they use "independent schools" among themselves in their professional association, but they just mean private schools in the ordinary usage.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Some parochial schools might be private but not independent. For the most part it's the same thing, but the schools decided independent sounds better than private. Here's one list: https://www.aisgw.org/

It's not the same thing. Private indicates having to apply for admissions. Independents are private schools, but are also governed independently, which privates are not. In the case of Catholic schools, if you aren't independent and the local bishop doesn't like something in your curriculum or an activity that you're doing, he has the right to tell you to stop or in extreme cases try to shut the school down. On a positive note, if a school is struggling financially, the archdiocese can help.

Public schools are free. Some public schools are application-only but still public.

Private schools are not free (though some give financial aid) and usually have an application.

For Catholic schools, parochial and diocesan schools are governed by the local diocese and the grade schools usually feed to a particular high school. Independent Catholic schools are not governed by the local diocese and usually affiliated with and overseen, to varying degrees, by another entry like a religious order.

Other private schools like to call themselves independent because they think it makes them sound less elitist.

Anonymous wrote:Some parochial schools might be private but not independent. For the most part it's the same thing, but the schools decided independent sounds better than private. Here's one list: https://www.aisgw.org/

It's not the same thing. Private indicates having to apply for admissions. Independents are private schools, but are also governed independently, which privates are not. In the case of Catholic schools, if you aren't independent and the local bishop doesn't like something in your curriculum or an activity that you're doing, he has the right to tell you to stop or in extreme cases try to shut the school down. On a positive note, if a school is struggling financially, the archdiocese can help.

Anonymous wrote:Some parochial schools might be private but not independent. For the most part it's the same thing, but the schools decided independent sounds better than private. Here's one list: https://www.aisgw.org/

Sorry, wrong link. Try this: https://www.aisgw.org/member-school-list

Some parochial schools might be private but not independent. For the most part it's the same thing, but the schools decided independent sounds better than private. Here's one list: https://www.aisgw.org/

Is this terminology the same? If not, can someone explain? Is there a list of private schools posted online somewhere?