Analiză comparativă a performanțelor educaționale ale elevilor de gimnaziu și liceu din școlile publice și cele confesionale orădene

The paper compares the educational performance of middle and high school students in public and religious schools in Oradea between 2015 and 2022. Based on international literature in the field—in particular, the debates initiated by Coleman on the "Catholic school effect"—the study empirically tests the hypothesis that religion and the religious school environment are significant variables in academic success. The research is structured in three complementary studies: a quantitative analysis of the results of the National Assessment and Baccalaureate between 2011 and 2016, a survey of a sample of eighth-grade students on the impact of religiosity on performance, and a qualitative study of the perceptions of principals from four types of schools in Oradea. The study also aims to highlight the role of social capital and the religious involvement of students and parents in achieving school results, in a context marked by declining quality of public education and increasing school dropout rates in post-December Romania.