According to the American Council for Private Education, private schools are attended by 11 percent of the students in the K-12 system in the United States, and of that number, 81% are attending religious schools. The vast majority of those schools are of a Christian denomination. At many Christian private schools, the schooling is much like public school. The children ride a bus, attend class and come home. The difference is that they are often required to wear uniforms, study religion in class and prayer may be a part of daily school life, which it cannot be in the public school system. The advantages are clear as students in private schools consistently score better on tests than those in the public system. (See References 1)
Some Christian schools in the K-12 system offer boarding services in addition to the educational services that they offer. This differs substantially from public schools, because students will spend most of their year living on school grounds with their classmates rather than at home with their parents. These schools are sometimes segregated into all-boy or all-girl schools, depending on the Christian denomination and the governance of the school's owners. Daily prayer is a part of school life at a Christian boarding school. There is typically a church or chapel on the grounds with regular services that are most often mandatory to attend.
Just like the private K-12 schools operated by religious organizations, the U.S. is also home to a huge network of privately-operated religious colleges. A religious framework is laid overtop of the typical college governing structure at these institutions. The education offered at a religious school is not limited by religion, however. Students can often earn degrees in secular fields as well. For example, at Wheaton College, students can study physics, art, chemistry or health sciences.
Some religiously-operated private schools focus mostly on religious education. Other classes are offered to ensure a well-rounded university education, but most of the degree programs focus on religious topics. For example, the Washington Theological Union offers master's degrees in areas including divinity, pastoral studies, theological studies and theology. The latter two are Master of Arts degrees aimed at academics, but still in a theological focus area.