Home Schooling — Has Its Day Come?

BY LINDA THOMPSON

The idea of the home as a substitute for public school used to be taken seriously only by a small segment of society, motivated mainly by religious concerns. But now, for a much wider range of reasons, parents across the country are seeking information about homeschooling.

One of the first questions asked is how effective is it? More specifically, how do home-taught youngsters compare with students in public or private schools? To help answer that, the US Department of Education is about to release the results of a study based on nationwide household surveys and data from the US Census Bureau. Like all studies of homeschooling, it is likely to be criticized for its small sample size, imperfect methodology, and incomplete conclusions.

Although no one has accurately figured the size of the homeschooling population, estimates vary from half a million to two million. The population's diversity, lack of regulation and in some cases, opposition to testing, are some of the obstacles to analyzing it effectively.

Providing a glimpse into the controversy surrounding homeschooling, a 1998 "statistical study" by Lawrence M. Rudner, was financed and promoted by the Home School Legal Defense Association and published in the online journal, Education Policy Archives.

Rudner enlisted 20,760 homeschoolers in 11,930 families to take standard achievement tests. Parents in many instances administered the tests to their children. In addition, parents completed detailed questionnaires about their income and education levels, among other things.

In "Contextualizing Homeschooling Data: A Response to Rudner," education specialists at UCLA and the University of Pennsylvania criticized the study as presenting "an erroneous picture of homeschooling." A homeschooling advocacy group also faulted the study, but for different reasons. In "Taking Charge — HSLDA Study: Embarrassing and Dangerous," the publishers of Home Education Magazine said that including only a narrow segment of the homeschooling population (mainly white, Christian, well-to-do families) led to erroneous conclusions that present a general threat to homeschooling freedoms.

Facts about homeschooling are hard to come by. The National Home Education Research Institute of Salem, Ore., says for the 1999-2000 school year, between 1.3 and 1.7 million children are being schooled at home. A recent paper on the US Department of Education's website indicates that homeschooling has indeed grown substantially over the past decade, but also details some of the problems involved with measuring this growth.

Information from national associations is generally less useful than that provided by private parties, with one caveat about data from advocate groups. Though they generally claim that homeschooled children are better educated than their public-school peers, little or no scientific evidence exists to back the claim. With that in mind, the Homeschool Zone has links, discussion groups and other resources. Also, "Fun Books: John Holt's Bookstore" provides lots of links. Home Education Magazine has a section on state regulations governing homeschooling and links to statewide resource groups.

In California, several organizations provide resources, including the HomeSchool Association of California and the California Homeschool Network. The Christian Educators Association of California presents a Christian slant.

Lists of colleges and universities that have admitted homeschoolers, as well as tips regarding admission, are available. And a 1999 San Francisco Chronicle article, "School's Out, Learning's In," reports that Stanford University is beginning to track the progress of homeschooled students who apply for admission.

Click to return to: VIRTUAL LIBRARY TABLE OF CONTENTS