Has it ever occurred to you that the recipient of a college diploma is not necessarily well educated? A diploma looks the same whether the student maintained a 2.0 or a 4.0 grade point average. Certainly, the college transcripts look different, and there are a few employers who actually look at them. By and large, the benchmark for employment is the sheepskin. Have diploma, will hire. So, it is understandable that the vast majority of parents in this country want the people teaching their children to have more than just a college education. They want a little extra, too. The teaching candidate must pass a state-issued examination. Only then can they be called “teacher.” Only then can they receive a license to teach. Only then can they be deemed by the government as qualified to teach children.
Even with all of this required education and testing, school systems nationwide have problems. In fact, some have severe problems, problems that homeschooling families wish to avoid and problems that homeschooling critics wish to ignore. These problems are well documented in print and visual media, on-line, and over the air waves. No matter how many times we hear that US schools are dropping in the rankings of schools world-wide, we hear homeschooling critics insist that all children should attend public school. No matter how many stories we hear about middle school and high school students distributing nude photos of girls via cell phones and school laptop computers, we also hear public educators raise concerns that home schooled children are not properly socialized. It does not matter how many teachers make the list of sexual predators who have raped students, opponents of homeschooling seem more concerned about what happens within the walls of a home school than what happens within the walls of our nation’s public schools. Inherent in the desire to shine light into the houses where homeschoolers reside is the belief that there is something evil that must be exposed. In short, no matter how poorly public schools perform, supporters continue to believe that those public schools are head and shoulders above any other choice.
While problems exist, the vast majority of our public schools are safe. The majority of our public school teachers are dedicated people who truly believe in helping children. A student who attends classes each day, works attentively, completes her homework, and studies hard can receive a good education. The difference between students who fail and students who excel is often their parents. It is true more often than it is not that parents who are actively involved in their children’s lives - who instill the value of a good education and force their children to work hard at their studies - are the parents of successful students. Strong, effective parenting can mean the difference between students who do drugs and those who do not. An involved parent can make the difference between a student who distributes pornographic pictures of herself to her friends and a student who does not. It is equally true that there are no better examples of active parenting than in the homeschooling community. The results of study after study reveal that homeschooled children outperform their peers on academic tests at all levels. Home schoolers typically give up a second income and many luxuries in life in order to provide a high quality education and sound instruction in morals, values, and faith. Homeschoolers choose to do this while paying taxes to the public school system and asking for nothing in return, except to be left alone to pursue their academic freedom.
A question remains in the great debate between those who would abolish home education and those who support academic freedom. Why would citizens who support public education deny the freedom of home education to their fellow citizens, when the home educators do not harm them in any manner? Sonny Scott, writing in a Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal article titled, “Home-schoolers Threaten Our Cultural Comfort,” offered one good reason why homeschooling is disliked.
Why do we hate (or at least distrust) these people so much?Their very existence represents a rejection of our values, and an indictment of our lifestyles. Those families are willing to render unto Caesar the things that Caesar’s be, but they draw the line at their children. Those of us who have put our trust in the secular state (and effectively surrendered our children to it) recognize this act of defiance as a rejection of our values, and we reject them in return.
When confronted with a message that is uncomfortable to hear, it is human nature to attack the messenger. When confronted with an uncomfortable image, many people turn away. Parents who see the failing state of public education yet place their children in that system anyway see a homeschooler’s rejection of public education as a judgment of their values. Parents who see instances of sexual abuse in their schools and still choose to send their children to those schools see a homeschooler’s rejection of that option as a judgment of their parenting. The public school teacher who hears home educators say, “No thank you, we can do it better at home,” hears a rejection of his or her professional competence. And what makes that rejection even more offensive to the teacher is that it comes from individuals whom they consider grossly unqualified—parents who are not tested, not certified, and not licensed by the state. The success of homeschooling is a mirror which reflects the state of public education to the greater community. It is no wonder that so many people want to break the mirror. It is easier to ignore a problem than to turn an introspective eye and correct what needs to be corrected.
More than ever, homeschoolers need to stand firm in the defense of academic freedom. We need to fight to protect homeschooling as an option for all Americans. While doing so, we must meet our detractors with grace. We must listen to their arguments with love. Our communities are hurting. We must assure them that while we may not agree, we respect their right to educate their children as they choose. All that we ask is the same in return. We should be allowed the freedom to educate our children at home.
(Permission to reprint Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal, Tupelo, Miss.)
Showing posts with label HSLDA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label HSLDA. Show all posts
Friday, August 14, 2009
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Now They'll Complain About Socialization
Allow me to join the hundreds of homeschool bloggers celebrating the great news by sharing this e-mail from the HSLDA...
Each year, the homeschool movement graduates at least 100,000 students. Due to the fact that both the United States government and homeschool advocates agree that homeschooling has been growing at around 7% per annum for the past decade, it is not surprising that homeschooling is gaining increased attention. Consequently, many people have been asking questions about homeschooling, usually with a focus on either the academic or social abilities of homeschool graduates.
As an organization advocating on behalf of homeschoolers, Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) long ago committed itself to demonstrating that homeschooling should be viewed as a mainstream educational alternative.
We strongly believe that homeschooling is a thriving education movement capable of producing millions of academically and socially able students who will have a tremendously positive effect on society.
Despite much resistance from outside the homeschool movement, whether from teachers unions, politicians, school administrators, judges, social service workers, or even family members, over the past few decades homeschoolers have slowly but surely won acceptance as a mainstream education alternative. This has been due in part to the commissioning of research which demonstrates the academic success of the average homeschooler.
The last piece of major research looking at homeschool academic achievement was completed in 1998 by Dr. Lawrence Rudner. Rudner, a professor at the ERIC Clearinghouse, which is part of the University of Maryland, surveyed over 20,000 homeschooled students. His study, titled Home Schooling Works, discovered that homeschoolers (on average) scored about 30 percentile points higher than the national average on standardized achievement tests.
This research and several other studies supporting the claims of homeschoolers have helped the homeschool cause tremendously. Today, you would be hard pressed to find an opponent of homeschooling who says that homeschoolers, on average, are poor academic achievers.
There is one problem, however. Rudner’s research was conducted over a decade ago. Without another look at the level of academic achievement among homeschooled students, critics could begin to say that research on homeschool achievement is outdated and no longer relevant.
Recognizing this problem, 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.
The Results
Overall the study showed significant advances in homeschool academic achievement as well as revealing that issues such as student gender, parents’ education level, and family income had little bearing on the results of homeschooled students.
There was little difference between the results of homeschooled boys and girls on core scores.
Boys—87th percentile
Household income had little impact on the results of homeschooled students.
$34,999 or less—85th 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
Whether either parent was a certified teacher did not matter.
Certified (i.e., either parent ever certified)—87th percentile
Parental spending on home education made little difference.
Spent $600 or more on the student—89th percentile
The extent of government regulation on homeschoolers did not affect the results.
Low state regulation—87th percentile
HSLDA defines the extent of government regulation this way:
States with low regulation: No state requirement for parents to initiate any contact or State requires parental notification only.
States with moderate regulation: State requires parents to send notification, test scores, and/or professional evaluation of student progress.
State with high regulation: State requires parents to send notification or achievement test scores and/or professional evaluation, plus other requirements (e.g. curriculum approval by the state, teacher qualification of parents, or home visits by state officials).
The question HSLDA regularly puts before state legislatures is, “If government regulation does not improve the results of homeschoolers why is it necessary?”
In short, the results found in the new study are consistent with 25 years of research, which show that as a group homeschoolers consistently perform above average academically. The Progress Report also shows that, even as the numbers and diversity of homeschoolers have grown tremendously over the past 10 years, homeschoolers have actually increased the already sizeable gap in academic achievement between themselves and their public school counterparts-moving from about 30 percentile points higher in the Rudner study (1998) to 37 percentile points higher in the Progress Report (2009).
As mentioned earlier, the achievement gaps that are well-documented in public school between boys and girls, parents with lower incomes, and parents with lower levels of education are not found among homeschoolers. While it is not possible to draw a definitive conclusion, it does appear from all the existing research that homeschooling equalizes every student upwards. Homeschoolers are actually achieving every day what the public schools claim are their goals—to narrow achievement gaps and to educate each child to a high level.
Of course, an education movement which consistently shows that children can be educated to a standard significantly above the average public school student at a fraction of the cost—the average spent by participants in the Progress Report was about $500 per child per year as opposed to the public school average of nearly $10,000 per child per year—will inevitably draw attention from the K-12 public education industry.
Answering the Critics
This particular study is the most comprehensive ever undertaken. It attempts to build upon and improve on the previous research. One criticism of the Rudner study was that it only drew students from one large testing service. Although there was no reason to believe that homeschoolers participating with that service were automatically non-representative of the broader homeschool community, HSLDA decided to answer this criticism by using 15 independent testing services for this new study. There can be no doubt that homeschoolers from all walks of life and backgrounds participated in the Progress Report.
While it is true that not every homeschooler in America was part of this study, it is also true that the Progress Report provides clear evidence of the success of homeschool programs.
The reason is that all social science studies are based on samples. The goal is to make the sample as representative as possible because then more confident conclusions can be drawn about the larger population. Those conclusions are then validated when other studies find the same or similar results.
Critics tend to focus on this narrow point and maintain that they will not be satisfied until every homeschooler is submitted to a test. This is not a reasonable request because not all homeschoolers take standardized achievement tests. In fact, while the majority of homeschool parents do indeed test their children simply to track their progress and also to provide them with the experience of test-taking, it is far from a comprehensive and universal practice among homeschoolers.
The best researchers can do is provide a sample of homeschooling families and compare the results of their children to those of public school students, in order to give the most accurate picture of how homeschoolers in general are faring academically.
The concern that the only families who chose to participate are the most successful homeschoolers can be alleviated by the fact that the overwhelming majority of parents did not know their children's test results before agreeing to participate in the study.
HSLDA believes that this study along with the several that have been done in the past are clear evidence that homeschoolers are succeeding academically.
Final Thought
Homeschooling is making great strides and hundreds of thousands of parents across America are showing every day what can be achieved when parents exercise their right to homeschool and make tremendous sacrifices to provide their children with the best education available.
New Nationwide Study Confirms Homeschool Academic Achievement
Ian SlatterDirector of Media Relations
August 10, 2009
Ian SlatterDirector of Media Relations
August 10, 2009
Each year, the homeschool movement graduates at least 100,000 students. Due to the fact that both the United States government and homeschool advocates agree that homeschooling has been growing at around 7% per annum for the past decade, it is not surprising that homeschooling is gaining increased attention. Consequently, many people have been asking questions about homeschooling, usually with a focus on either the academic or social abilities of homeschool graduates.
As an organization advocating on behalf of homeschoolers, Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) long ago committed itself to demonstrating that homeschooling should be viewed as a mainstream educational alternative.
We strongly believe that homeschooling is a thriving education movement capable of producing millions of academically and socially able students who will have a tremendously positive effect on society.
Despite much resistance from outside the homeschool movement, whether from teachers unions, politicians, school administrators, judges, social service workers, or even family members, over the past few decades homeschoolers have slowly but surely won acceptance as a mainstream education alternative. This has been due in part to the commissioning of research which demonstrates the academic success of the average homeschooler.
The last piece of major research looking at homeschool academic achievement was completed in 1998 by Dr. Lawrence Rudner. Rudner, a professor at the ERIC Clearinghouse, which is part of the University of Maryland, surveyed over 20,000 homeschooled students. His study, titled Home Schooling Works, discovered that homeschoolers (on average) scored about 30 percentile points higher than the national average on standardized achievement tests.
This research and several other studies supporting the claims of homeschoolers have helped the homeschool cause tremendously. Today, you would be hard pressed to find an opponent of homeschooling who says that homeschoolers, on average, are poor academic achievers.
There is one problem, however. Rudner’s research was conducted over a decade ago. Without another look at the level of academic achievement among homeschooled students, critics could begin to say that research on homeschool achievement is outdated and no longer relevant.
Recognizing this problem, 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.
The Results
Overall the study showed significant advances in homeschool academic achievement as well as revealing that issues such as student gender, parents’ education level, and family income had little bearing on the results of homeschooled students.
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
HSLDA defines the extent of government regulation this way:
States with low regulation: No state requirement for parents to initiate any contact or State requires parental notification only.
States with moderate regulation: State requires parents to send notification, test scores, and/or professional evaluation of student progress.
State with high regulation: State requires parents to send notification or achievement test scores and/or professional evaluation, plus other requirements (e.g. curriculum approval by the state, teacher qualification of parents, or home visits by state officials).
The question HSLDA regularly puts before state legislatures is, “If government regulation does not improve the results of homeschoolers why is it necessary?”
In short, the results found in the new study are consistent with 25 years of research, which show that as a group homeschoolers consistently perform above average academically. The Progress Report also shows that, even as the numbers and diversity of homeschoolers have grown tremendously over the past 10 years, homeschoolers have actually increased the already sizeable gap in academic achievement between themselves and their public school counterparts-moving from about 30 percentile points higher in the Rudner study (1998) to 37 percentile points higher in the Progress Report (2009).
As mentioned earlier, the achievement gaps that are well-documented in public school between boys and girls, parents with lower incomes, and parents with lower levels of education are not found among homeschoolers. While it is not possible to draw a definitive conclusion, it does appear from all the existing research that homeschooling equalizes every student upwards. Homeschoolers are actually achieving every day what the public schools claim are their goals—to narrow achievement gaps and to educate each child to a high level.
Of course, an education movement which consistently shows that children can be educated to a standard significantly above the average public school student at a fraction of the cost—the average spent by participants in the Progress Report was about $500 per child per year as opposed to the public school average of nearly $10,000 per child per year—will inevitably draw attention from the K-12 public education industry.
Answering the Critics
This particular study is the most comprehensive ever undertaken. It attempts to build upon and improve on the previous research. One criticism of the Rudner study was that it only drew students from one large testing service. Although there was no reason to believe that homeschoolers participating with that service were automatically non-representative of the broader homeschool community, HSLDA decided to answer this criticism by using 15 independent testing services for this new study. There can be no doubt that homeschoolers from all walks of life and backgrounds participated in the Progress Report.
While it is true that not every homeschooler in America was part of this study, it is also true that the Progress Report provides clear evidence of the success of homeschool programs.
The reason is that all social science studies are based on samples. The goal is to make the sample as representative as possible because then more confident conclusions can be drawn about the larger population. Those conclusions are then validated when other studies find the same or similar results.
Critics tend to focus on this narrow point and maintain that they will not be satisfied until every homeschooler is submitted to a test. This is not a reasonable request because not all homeschoolers take standardized achievement tests. In fact, while the majority of homeschool parents do indeed test their children simply to track their progress and also to provide them with the experience of test-taking, it is far from a comprehensive and universal practice among homeschoolers.
The best researchers can do is provide a sample of homeschooling families and compare the results of their children to those of public school students, in order to give the most accurate picture of how homeschoolers in general are faring academically.
The concern that the only families who chose to participate are the most successful homeschoolers can be alleviated by the fact that the overwhelming majority of parents did not know their children's test results before agreeing to participate in the study.
HSLDA believes that this study along with the several that have been done in the past are clear evidence that homeschoolers are succeeding academically.
Final Thought
Homeschooling is making great strides and hundreds of thousands of parents across America are showing every day what can be achieved when parents exercise their right to homeschool and make tremendous sacrifices to provide their children with the best education available.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
It's a Homeschool Again!
I was returning home from Karate practice last night when I noticed the message board on the sign in front of the Apathy fire house. The sign might be for the Apathy prison, too. One sits in front of the other. I drive past the sign regularly but I have no idea which organization owns it. The message informed me that registration for the 2009-2010 Apathy school year was on the last day of July.
Oops. I guess I missed that deadline.
Ironically, Sunday morning I mailed notices to the superintendent of the Apathy School District and to the principal of Apathy Middle School, informing them that I was withdrawing General Mayhem from school. I used the generic withdrawal form supplied by the Home School Legal Defense Association. I love using HSLDA letterhead to send a message to the school district. It screams, “Mess with me, I dare you!” Apparently, the forms have not arrived yet. Twenty minutes ago I received a phone call from the registrar of the middle school. She wanted to know if the General was returning for classes this year.
Nope.
I have not written much about home schooling. Last year was a very difficult homeschooling year that saw all three children in our local public school for a brief period of time. The general was in for the longest time, and when he was discharged for the summer he told the Boss and me that he wanted to return to the middle school this year. I was disappointed. The decision was not solely his to make, but his desire to return would make the decision on whether or not to homeschool that much more difficult. Fortunately, letting go of the issue and allowing God to work in our lives paid off. Rather than forcing a decision, we just enjoyed our summer.
Long before the school year ended we decided that the General would complete his Saxon7/6 math curriculum over the summer break. His math grades plummeted after he started at the middle school. The math instruction hop scotched through the textbook in what was obviously an attempt to teach to the state mandated tests last March. The remaining instruction time between March and May was used to fill in the concepts that had been skipped throughout the school year. We strongly felt that regardless of where he attended school this year, we needed to re-teach sixth grade math if the General had any hope of understanding math at the next higher level.
Last month, at the end of a particularly fun math lesson, I teased the General. “Are you enjoying working with me on math as much as I am enjoying working with you?” I asked.
He smiled. “Yeah.”
“So, are you ready to stay home and home school this year?”
He smiled again. “Yeah.”
My jaw hit the floor. Instead of my getting a rise out of him, he had me speechless. It was obvious by his tone that he was sincere. I allowed a couple of weeks to pass before I seriously pursued the topic. He did not change his answer after I asked him if he was serious about homeschooling. Not only was he enjoying our work together, but he had rediscovered the joys of school work in jammies at the kitchen table after sleeping in. That was enough for him.
Several conversations took place before we made the final decision. The General is returning to the home school. I am thrilled. This is the way it is supposed to be. The Major will be home again (and if he karate chops his teacher this year there will be consequences!). Only the Captain will return to the elementary school, but that will be for two mornings each week and only for the purpose of receiving speech and occupational therapy. I promise that if there is one case of swine flu at that school this year, she is out of there!
We are collecting the last of the curriculum needed for the seventh grade school year (we already have the Major’s and the Captain’s curriculum), and completing some basement work to move the classroom into a new location. I am looking forward to a challenging school year where I will be teaching three children full time. I am looking forward to participating in a homeschooling running club that I started with Twisted Sister, a regular reader of BiB and a homeschooling mother of three. It will provide a regular opportunity for our younger two to meet with and play with other homeschoolers in the area while the older kids run. We’ll be participating in four 5K races this fall. If that doesn’t shed some pounds, nothing will.
Somewhere in Illinois, Prodoceo will be dancing!
Oops. I guess I missed that deadline.
Ironically, Sunday morning I mailed notices to the superintendent of the Apathy School District and to the principal of Apathy Middle School, informing them that I was withdrawing General Mayhem from school. I used the generic withdrawal form supplied by the Home School Legal Defense Association. I love using HSLDA letterhead to send a message to the school district. It screams, “Mess with me, I dare you!” Apparently, the forms have not arrived yet. Twenty minutes ago I received a phone call from the registrar of the middle school. She wanted to know if the General was returning for classes this year.
Nope.
I have not written much about home schooling. Last year was a very difficult homeschooling year that saw all three children in our local public school for a brief period of time. The general was in for the longest time, and when he was discharged for the summer he told the Boss and me that he wanted to return to the middle school this year. I was disappointed. The decision was not solely his to make, but his desire to return would make the decision on whether or not to homeschool that much more difficult. Fortunately, letting go of the issue and allowing God to work in our lives paid off. Rather than forcing a decision, we just enjoyed our summer.
Long before the school year ended we decided that the General would complete his Saxon7/6 math curriculum over the summer break. His math grades plummeted after he started at the middle school. The math instruction hop scotched through the textbook in what was obviously an attempt to teach to the state mandated tests last March. The remaining instruction time between March and May was used to fill in the concepts that had been skipped throughout the school year. We strongly felt that regardless of where he attended school this year, we needed to re-teach sixth grade math if the General had any hope of understanding math at the next higher level.
Last month, at the end of a particularly fun math lesson, I teased the General. “Are you enjoying working with me on math as much as I am enjoying working with you?” I asked.
He smiled. “Yeah.”
“So, are you ready to stay home and home school this year?”
He smiled again. “Yeah.”
My jaw hit the floor. Instead of my getting a rise out of him, he had me speechless. It was obvious by his tone that he was sincere. I allowed a couple of weeks to pass before I seriously pursued the topic. He did not change his answer after I asked him if he was serious about homeschooling. Not only was he enjoying our work together, but he had rediscovered the joys of school work in jammies at the kitchen table after sleeping in. That was enough for him.
Several conversations took place before we made the final decision. The General is returning to the home school. I am thrilled. This is the way it is supposed to be. The Major will be home again (and if he karate chops his teacher this year there will be consequences!). Only the Captain will return to the elementary school, but that will be for two mornings each week and only for the purpose of receiving speech and occupational therapy. I promise that if there is one case of swine flu at that school this year, she is out of there!
We are collecting the last of the curriculum needed for the seventh grade school year (we already have the Major’s and the Captain’s curriculum), and completing some basement work to move the classroom into a new location. I am looking forward to a challenging school year where I will be teaching three children full time. I am looking forward to participating in a homeschooling running club that I started with Twisted Sister, a regular reader of BiB and a homeschooling mother of three. It will provide a regular opportunity for our younger two to meet with and play with other homeschoolers in the area while the older kids run. We’ll be participating in four 5K races this fall. If that doesn’t shed some pounds, nothing will.
Somewhere in Illinois, Prodoceo will be dancing!
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