The subject of this article, homeschooling and statistics were requested by Maple Steely. Thank you, Maple! As promised, here are the answers to your question.
Introduction
Most of this article is based on the “General Facts, Statistics, and Trend” by Dr. Ray D. Brian from the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI). Research published on March 23, 2020.
Disclaimer: This article relates to the findings of Dr. Brian. Therefore, even though I will not mention Dr. Brian’s name throughout the summary of the findings. They belong to Dr. Ray D. Brian. However, I will cite other authors.
Who are the parents homeschooling?
To begin with, religion or the educational background of the parents does not influence homeschooling. Therefore, parents from all walks of life homeschool.
However, a study by Noel, Stark, and Redford from 2013 mentioned that 32% of homeschool students are African American, Asian, Hispanic, and others. This percentage is trending upward each year .
How many students are homeschooled in the US?
Students in grades K-12 who are not attending a physical school are considered as homeschooled. In 2019, 2.5 million students or 3.5% of school-age children were homeschooled.
However, 3.4 million U.S adults, at one point were home for their studies. Therefore, if we add these numbers, 5.9 million Americans lived through homeschooling.
Why do parents choose to homeschool?
I know that I decided to homeschool my son when his first-grade teacher announced that he had to wait for the others in the class to catch up to his reading level.
You see, my son benefited from parents who read to him every day and taught him the basics of reading before entering first grade.
Consequently, he reached expected reading proficiency for a first grader in March.
As a result, my son was supposed to wait for the other students to reach his level by June.
It meant that he was not going to be challenged in reading from March to June. This was not acceptable to us, parents!
However, I am sure that parents have their own stories leading them to homeschool their children.
For instance, the reasons could be religious, wanting more than what public schools have to offer, choosing the curriculum, or providing a safer environment. All valid reasons when we want the best for our children!
State Standardized tests vs. NAEP
Homeschooled students would only have to take State Standardized tests if the state requires it.
Therefore, the State Standardized Tests reports on reading proficiency will only include participating homeschooled students.
However, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) is only voluntary. In fact, 4th, 8th, and 12th grade students are assessed on different subjects including reading.
If you want to know more about the 2019 NAEP results please refer to my previous article “Your child has challenges with reading?”
How are homeschool students fairing academically?
So yes, homeschool students perform 15 to 30 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests.
Singularly, this gap is even more important for African Americans. In 2015, these children scored 23 to 42 percentile points above their peers in public schools.
Due to these results, colleges are seeking homeschooled students as they also have higher SAT and ACT scores.
If you want to know more, please click here.
Sounds good! But….
Of course, there is always a but!
Dr. Rachel Coleman, the Executive Director of Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE), is not denying the fact that homeschooled students are well above average in reading than their peers but wonders if it is true in all subjects?
Over the years, in 1988, 1991, 2000, 2005, 2007, few studies were conducted to determine the proficiency level of homeschooled students.
If you want to know more about the results, please click here.
As the dates show, these studies are not conducted regularly. According to Coleman, only the state of Arkansas tests annually homeschooled students. Nonetheless, all of these reports point out to one issue.
The Homeschool Math Gap
The results from the chart are a bit dated, but they illustrate the point.
Homeschooled students have a higher level of reading proficiency than their peers in public schools, with 86% vs. 80%.
However, in math, the tendency is reversed. Homeschooled students have a lower level of math proficiency than their peers in public schools, with 63% vs. 69%.
The implication of these results
Homeschooled students are less likely to go into a Science,Technology, Engineering, and mathematics (STEM) field than their counterparts.
7.7% and 5.1% of homeschooled students go into STEM programs compared to 17.8% and 15.6% of students in public schools.
Students in public schools also choose STEM fields more so than students in private schools with 17% and 14.3%.
Final thought
The data collected from homeschoolers are sporadic and lack consistency because not all states require testing.
Also, the NAEP testing renders a global image of the proficiency level of students nationwide; besides, it is only voluntary. Moreover, NAEP uses a sample of 4th, 8th, and 12th-grade students, not all students.
According to Jesse Card, as of yet, there is no national standard for the evaluation of homeschooled students
Call to action
Should we advocate for a homeschool national standardized test? Consequently, parents of homeschoolers would have accurate results about the level of proficiency of their children in all areas, i.e., Science, math, and reading.
I would love to hear from you on this subject. So please leave your comments or questions below.
Thank you for your trust, and by clicking on this link: www.eLearning-sofun.com, you can download my free book: “10 fun, simple yet effective technics for your child to read with pride and joy!”
“Learning is intelligence having fun!”