Public School Failures, Homeschool Successes

by Dennis L. Peterson

from The Freeman, Nov. 1997

Once almost unheard-of and usually relegated to the province of educational quackery and political or religious radicalism, the homeschooling movement has in the last few years blossomed into a serious educational option. A recent study by the National Home Education Research Institute and the Homeschool Legal Defense Association demonstrates just how serious an alternative it has become. Conducted by researcher Dr. Brian D. Ray, the report made a number of startling finds:

• The number of students being homeschooled across the nation is between 1,103,000 and 1,348,000.
  
  
• The total number of homeschoolers equals the public school enrollments of the states of Alaska, Delaware, Hawaii, Montana, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Vermont, and Wyoming combined.
  
  
• Homeschoolers outperformed public school students by 30 to 37 percentile points on all subjects on standardized achievement tests.
  
  
• Whether the parents ever held a teaching certificate had virtually no impact on student scores. Even homeschooled students whose mothers never finished high school scored 55 percentile points higher than public school students in similar circumstances.
  
  
• Homeschoolers scored between the 82nd and 92nd percentiles regardless of their families, incomes.
  
  
• Students scored at the 86th percentile whether states imposed strict or minimal regulations.
  
  
• Homeschooling parents pay an average of $546 per year, whereas the average per-pupil expenditure by public schools is $5,325, excluding all capital costs.
  
  
• Homeschoolers, test scores tend to increase the longer they are homeschooled, going from the 59th percentile for those who have been homeschooled for one year to the 92nd percentile for those who have been homeschooled for seven years.
  
  
• More than half (53 percent) of all homeschoolers visit a library at least once or twice a month; 38 percent of them make three to five visits a month.
  
  
• The average homeschooled child is involved in 5.2 community activities, such as volunteer work, classes outside the home, group sports, and church. An astounding 98 percent are involved in two or more activities.
  
  
• Only 6 percent of homeschoolers, in contrast to 62 percent of public school students, watch three hours or more of television each day.
  
  
• About 61 percent of homeschoolers are in grades K-6, more than 18 percent are in grades 7-8, and almost 20 percent are in grades 9-12.
  
  
• Three percent of homeschooling parents intend to continue doing so through grade 6 or less; 89 percent plan to homeschool through grade 12.

In short, homeschooling not only works, but is helping to erode the public school monopoly. The more this message gets out, the more serious will become the homeschooling option.

NOTE: Mr. Peterson is a homeschooling parent and a frequent contributor to The Freeman, Teaching Home, and other periodicals.

A copy of the complete study, Strengths of Their Own--Home Schoolers Across America: Academic Achievement, Family Characteristics, and Longitudinal Traits, may be obtained from:
National Home Education Research Institute
P.O. Box 13939, Salem, Oregon, 97309, (503) 364-1490.

Copyright © 1997 by The Foundation for Economic Education (FEE).

Permission is granted to reprint any article in this November 1997 issue of The Freeman, except "Edward Coke," provided credit is given and two copies of the reprinted material are sent to FEE.

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