New major Homeschooling Study: Continued Superiority in Academics

[NeuroTypical]

So, the last major study of homeschooling was Dr. Lawrence Rudner's University of Maryland study Home Schooling Works, done back in 1998. It was time for something a bit more current:

HSLDA commissioned Dr. Brian Ray, an internationally recognized scholar and president of the non-profit National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), to collect data for the 2007–08 academic year for a new study which would build upon 25 years of homeschool academic scholarship conducted by Ray himself, Rudner, and many others.

Drawing from 15 independent testing services, the Progress Report 2009: Homeschool Academic Achievement and Demographics included 11,739 homeschooled students from all 50 states who took three well-known tests—California Achievement Test, Iowa Tests of Basic Skills, and Stanford Achievement Test for the 2007–08 academic year. The Progress Report is the most comprehensive homeschool academic study ever completed.

Overall result: Homeschooled kids continue to whip their public school counterparts in national averages by at least 30 percentile points.

There was little difference between the results of homeschooled boys and girls on core scores.

Boys—87th percentile

Girls—88th percentile

Household income had little impact on the results of homeschooled students.

$34,999 or less—85th percentile

$35,000–$49,999—86th percentile

$50,000–$69,999—86th percentile

$70,000 or more—89th percentile

The education level of the parents made a noticeable difference, but the homeschooled children of non-college educated parents still scored in the 83rd percentile, which is well above the national average.

Neither parent has a college degree—83rd percentile

One parent has a college degree—86th percentile

Both parents have a college degree—90th percentile

Whether either parent was a certified teacher did not matter.

Certified (i.e., either parent ever certified)—87th percentile

Not certified (i.e., neither parent ever certified)—88th percentile

Parental spending on home education made little difference.

Spent $600 or more on the student—89th percentile

Spent under $600 on the student—86th percentile

The extent of government regulation on homeschoolers did not affect the results.

Low state regulation—87th percentile

Medium state regulation—88th percentile

High state regulation—87th percentile

Other interesting things from the NHERI website:

* 97.9% of homeschooled kids are in married couple families. Most home school mothers (81%) do not participate in the labor force; almost all home school fathers (97.6%) do work for pay.

* The percent of homeschool students in this study who are White/not-Hispanic (91.7%) is disproportionately high compared to public school students nationwide.

[Vort]

What a nasty, hateful study done by awful people. No public funding for THEIR study!!! (Which can be seen by the disastrous results of the 1998 publicly funded U of M study...)

[Just_A_Guy]

Could you elucidate a bit, Vort?

[Vort]

Could you elucidate a bit, Vort?

Well, it's clearly a nasty, hateful study, because it suggests (in LM's words) that "Homeschooled kids continue to whip their public school counterparts in national averages by at least 30 percentile points." What could be more nasty and hateful than that?

The authors of the nasty, hateful study are clearly awful people, because they authored a nasty, hateful study.

The results of the U of M study were clearly disastrous given their title, Home Schooling Works.

Hope I cleared things up a bit.

[Guest]

Another testament to how doing it ourselves is better than getting it from the government. Amen.

[Dr T]

Thanks, I liked those results. :)

[Just_A_Guy]

Ah. Sorry, Vort--I missed the satire, and thought you actually disagreed with it.

[Lilac]

A happy homeschooling mom over here!!!!

[Seanette]

Ah. Sorry, Vort--I missed the satire, and thought you actually disagreed with it.

Seemed clear to me that Vort's tongue was so far in his? cheek that the tip was visible sticking out of his? ear.