This article reviews studies of private school policies and institutions. Such studies either focus upon private universities or K-12 schools. Educational Sociology and Higher Education Studies emphasize private universities, but their interests are mainly on management instead of policy and institutions. On the other hand, the studies on Education Administration are devoted to policy and institutions, but they mainly focus on K-12 and not on higher education.

By comparing studies from two disciplines, this article suggests a framework for analyzing private school policies and institutions. The framework used in Education Administration studies, such as new institutionalism and policy process studies, can also be used in private university research. Also, studies on the school corporation, the framework used in Education Sociology and Higher Education Studies, are very suggestive. These studies show that private school research should include K-12 and universities together in the framework.