Home Schooling (continued)

How well do home schooled children perform?

People disagree on whether home schooling is advantageous academically. Research has not determined whether the SAME children would perform better or worse in a public or private classroom, or in a home-schooling arrangement. Analyses of test scores are available, based on data from states that require testing or from home-schooling associations. Data from both sources may not be representative of home schoolers as a whole, however, because not all families cooperate with state testing requirements and private efforts rely on volunteers. Keeping these caveats in mind, virtually all the available data show that the group of home-schooled children who are tested is above average. The pattern for children for whom data are available resembles that of children in private schools.

People also disagree about whether home schooling helps or hinders a child's social development. Children engaged in home schooling spend less time with same-aged children and more time with people of different ages. Most spend time with other children through support and networking groups, scouting, churches, and other associations. Many spend time with adults other than their parents through community volunteer work, running their own businesses, tutoring or mentoring arrangements, or other activities.

There is no conclusive research suggesting that additional time with same-aged peers is preferable to more time with individuals of varying ages. Limited testing of a self-selected group of home-schooled children suggested above-average social and psychological development.

How do public educators, policy-makers, and the public view home schooling?

The practice of home schooling is controversial. The national Parent-Teacher Association opposes the practice; in 1988, the National Education Association adopted a resolution calling for more rigorous regulation of home schooling. And the National Association of Elementary School Principals has maintained that education is "most effectively done through cohesive organizations in formal settings." Since 1983, it has condemned home-schooling in its platform.

Other groups, such as the national American Civil Liberties Union, maintain that parents have a constitutional right to educate their children at home. Although they didn't necessarily approve of home schooling, a majority of Americans responding to a Gallup poll nonetheless said parents have a right to engage in home schooling. State legislatures agree, and many have amended their laws to provide greater flexibility for home schooling.

Patricia Lines is a Senior Research Analyst with the National Institute on Educational Governance, Finance, Policy-Making, and Management, OERI.

An expanded version of this ERIC digest is available in P. Lines, "Homeschooling," in Private Education and Educational Choice, edited by James G. Cibulka Greenwood Press, forthcoming. This version will contain more detailed information on home-schooling associations and references.

Resources

Clark, Charles S. "Home Schooling," CQ RESEARCHER 4, 33 (September 9, 1994): 769-92.

Lines, Patricia. "Estimating the Home Schooled Population." Working Paper. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Research and Improvement, October 1991. 20 pages. ED 337 903.

Mayberry, Maralee; Knowles, J. Gary; Ray, Brian; and Marlow, Stacey, HOME SCHOOLING: PARENTS AS EDUCATORS. Thousand Oaks, California: Corwin Press, 1995.

McCarthy, Martha. HOME SCHOOLING AND THE LAW. Policy Bulletin No. PB-B15. Bloomington, Indiana: Education Policy Center, Indiana University, 1992. ED 349 702.

VanGalen, Jane, and Pitman, Mary Anne, eds. HOME SCHOOLING: POLITICAL, HISTORICAL AND PEDAGOGICAL PERSPECTIVES. Norwood, New Jersey: Ablex Publishing Corporation, 1991.