Homeschooling Facts
I'm still searching for an independent study of the efficacy of homeschooling, but George Bush's U.S. Department of Education did conduct a survey of WHO homeschool's their kids in 2003. Here's one of the more alarming statistics regarding the more than 1 million homeschooled children in the U.S.:
Parents’ highest educational attainmentOther Homeschooling facts:Twenty-five percent of homeschooled students had parents whose highest educational attainment was a high school diploma or less; this figure is lower than that for public schooled students (34 percent) but higher than that for private schooled students (13 percent). Homeschooled students were also less likely than private schooled students to have parents whose highest educational attainment was graduate or professional coursework beyond a bachelor’s degree (20 percent compared to 31 percent).
Compared to the general student population, homeschooled children are more likely to:
- Be white;
- Be from the South;
- Live in a rural area;
- Have two parents in the household;
- Have only one parent working;
- Have a household income of less than $75K;
- Have three or more children in the family.
The survey also asked parents what their primary reason was for homeschooling their kids:
30% - To provide religious or moral instruction
16% - Dissatisfaction with academic instruction
You can find the study here.
The closest thing I can find to an independent study of the efficacy of a homeschool education is this news release, touting a report from ACT, Inc. that homeschool students scored an average of 1.7 points higher on the ACT than public school students in 2003. Good for them. What the news release failed to mention is that less than 5% of the nation's homeschooled highschool juniors, or about 3,000 kids, takes the ACT each year.
Earlier commenters are correct, a slight majority of Americans do not believe in evolution, despite the fact that we rely on the forces of evolution - natural selection - everyday, from the food on our tables to the medicine we take, to capitalism and democracy.
This could help explain why the 2007 report from ACT found that only 28% of students met basic standards for college-readiness in the sciences. African American and Hispanic scores were abysmal, but only 33% of white students and 37% of Asian students were ready for college sciences.
32 comments:
The statistics on parents' highest educational achievement are a bit alarming. If parents are the chief educators of home-schooled children (as opposed to home schooling by tutors, etc.), it's appalling that 25% -- one in four -- have a high school education or less.
Imagine our outrage at a school where one in four teachers never attended college.
"Imagine our outrage at a school where one in four teachers never attended college."
- Considering how many public schools are failing, I wouldn't be suprised if they hadn't.
I wonder if there are any stats on how many of the kids took the SAT instead of the ACT. At my elite east-coast university I knew lots of home-schooled kids, and they would have had to take the SAT to get in.
WHile no one can be happy about the % of parents with an education beyond a HS diploma, that may be overated when compared to the attention the home schooler is likely to get. Sadly, many teachers are relegated to being overpaid babysitters due to many issues that they cannot control.
1) Ask any education professional, and they’ll tell you that one of the keys to a child’s academic success is parental involvement. My fiancé was a teacher’s aide at a low-income high school, and has told me hundreds of stories about parents who couldn’t care less about their child’s grades or behavior in school. This kind of neglect is FAR more rampant than the home-schooling “problem” you seem so concerned about, YDD. How about a couple of posts about that, instead?
2) You’ve done an excellent job of laying out the “problem,” now: what is your proposed solution?
We live in a land of freedom which believes in the importance of parental decisions and their educational rights. Forcing children to attend a neighborhood public school which does not instill values cherished by a majority of American families is their right, legally and morally.
Simply put, there is nothing wrong with teaching your children. Just as children everywhere take from their educational environment what they wish, this occurs whether it is in a public school room, a private school room or a church or living room. Humans are resilient and capable of great things when they desire to learn.
What I have personally experienced in public schools is anathema to the goals of education. I learned in spite of my schools. Perhaps you attended a school that rewarded learning, mine did not. Perhaps you attended a safe school, mine was not. My school had a 40% drop out rate. It was continually under siege by gangs. I witnessed my history teacher stabbed in the school hallway, did you have these things happen?
I find the attitude against home schooling to be so typical of those who believe they are better than others. They wish to shove their arrogant views of education and success down the throats of children - in the name of "doing something good" for them. Their bumbling stupidity shows few bounds.
I am tired of those who wish to name call those parents forced to home school. They are called ignorant, anti-science, white freak farmers and everything else. You out to focus on how we need to give our parents better educational choices for their children, not smear them and belittle their concerns.
Take your diplomas and wipe your butts with them, you arrogant morons!
"Take your diplomas and wipe your butts with them, you arrogant morons!"
We are going to trust this person to educate his kids?
Is this a solution crying out for a problem?
Thanks for the follow up, Yellow Dog. I'm happy to see that you're stepping out to find out some more informationand keeping the discussion going! You may want to google 'secular homeschooling,' and also check out some of the online homeschooling communities of secular, minority and even *gasp* liberals that are out there and growing.
Anon wrote:
"The statistics on parents' highest educational achievement are a bit alarming. If parents are the chief educators of home-schooled children (as opposed to home schooling by tutors, etc.), it's appalling that 25% -- one in four -- have a high school education or less."
I have my high school degree and that's about it and I homeschool my kids. I'm often curious about what it is people think a degree would offer me that would make me more capable of educating my kids.
The homeschooling environment in generally very different from a school environment. Skills and challenges are often so different that a common refrain from teachers turned homeschoolers is that their education degrees contributed very little, if anything, to their homeschooling efforts. If those parents find their education degrees unhelpful than what degree should I be seeking that would be useful?
Looks like to me this stats you are going by don't have a real clue what home schooling is all about.
Just for the record here in Illinois, the NCES study you cited is worthless. They don't have a record of IL homeschoolers as we don't register. So they can't study us, darn it all. I will supply one of my favorite quotes though:
Figures often beguile me, particularly when I have the arranging of them myself, in which case the remark attributed to Disraeli would often apply with justice and force: "There are three kinds of lies; lies, damned lies and statistics." Mark Twain
I would like to open your mind to the wide world of the 'net and the real world of homeschoolers.
Start here:
http://www.homeedmag.com/wlcm_HEM.html
and here:
http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/
and how 'bout here:
http://www.besthomeschooling.org/
Be careful....you might start to like it. :-) It's definitely a catching 'disease'.
YDD,
What is your beef with Home schoolers?
As people forced to pay property taxes AND stay at home to school their kids, they are providing your precious (yet failing) Goverment Schools with a subsidy.
Given the massive fraud, waste, and abuse in the government schools, the nitpicking about home schoolers due to some of their views on evolution smacks as the worst kind of condescension.
I haven't checked whether you responded to my point on the last post you did, but the idea that a religious home schooler is more of a threat to the republic than the piggish Stroger, Daley, Blago, G. Ryan etc. etc. etc. is quite laughable (if not sad).
The school board member who gets his friends or relatives a job with the district, or the Musical Chairs of the Dancing Superintendents hopping from district to district, sucking the lifeblood out of education spending with their piggish pensions are far far worse for our culture than a bunch of people who would rather their kids get into heaven than into Harvard - and basically just want to be left alone.
The Daily Herald's series on school waste fraud and corruption (my words, not theirs) recently pointed out that the suburbs are spending $315K per 25 kids.
What a wonderful number to point out the utter pointlessness and waste in government education.
If you parcelled out 315K and 25 kids randomly across the population, they would outperform the obsecenely overpriced government monopoly that you try to defend, all with money to spare.
You lefties have your hearts in the right place on quite a few issues, but your attack on homeschoolers is merely another reason why regular everyday folk view your ideas with some suspicion.
You can't seem to countenance the idea that some how, some where, in some way, people are raising their kids the way they want.
The idea that a government educated kid is any less brainwashed (Inconvenient Hype, etc.) than a homeschooled kid is merely another point I could expound upon, but I've gone on long enough.
Fund Children, not bureaucracies!
YDD,
Although I agree with your sentiment, I wish your posts had a stronger Illinoize angle.
This borders on a national partisan storyline, and I'm not buying the "homeschooling is weird/therefore bad" argument.
Of all the batsh@t crazy things conservatives do, homeschooling isn't in my top ten. This seems provocative for the sake of being provocative to me.
There are some legitimate Illinois policy questions to raise about homeschooling, but whether the idea of homeschooling is somehow threatening isn't one of them. Nor should it be.
I'm as liberal elitist as they come, and agree with you generally 90%. In this case, I agree with Extreme Wisdom, leave them alone.
(sorry if this is duplicative, trouble posting)
Extreme Wisdom, et al:
I don't have a beef with homeschoolers. My beef is that I think that all kids are entitled to a high-quality education that helps them realize their potential and prepares them to compete in the global economy.
I'm concerned not just as a citizen who values education as a principle, but also as a taxpayer. Kids who don't get an adequate high school education and go on to college are much more likely to end up on welfare, much more likely to end up in prison, much less likely to have health care, and contribute much less to our economy and our tax base.
I have been a frequent critic of the quality of education in Illinois' public schools, which can be directly linked to our property tax-dependence.
My concern with homeschooling, as Anon 8:32 pointed out, is that 250,000 of the parents teaching our kids never attended even one day of college. What kind of education are these kids getting?
I'm also concerned that parents' primary motivation for homeschooling their kids isn't so they'll get a better education.
I hope that the USDE will revise their study in the future to ferret out these supposed safety concerns to their kids. Is it guns? Gangs? Drugs? Or by "concern over school environment", do they mean they don't want their kids going to schools that teach sex education and evolution or where they might come into contact with black students or gay students?
As for solutions, I'm not sure. State law requires charter public school teachers who don't have education degrees to complete an alternative certification demonstrating they know what they're doing.
Perhaps homeschooled kids should also be required to take the same achievement tests that public school kids are required to take.
I know one thing, we're all in deep do-do if only one-in-four kids has mastered basic sciences before they graduate.
Believe me, 47th Ward, I would've posted state stats if I could find them.
Unfortunately, we know very little about the quality of education homeschool kids are getting.
YDD,
Given the Home schoolers generally make up a good chunk of the finalists in spelling and geography bees, it tends to show that HSers fall along the same distribution that we see elsewhere.
Some are getting a great education and others are not. My point continues to be...
Leave them alone. It's their right.
Further, given that the bloated and corrupt government school system in Chicago graduates around 1/2 of those who start HS, all at an extreme level of waste, isn't carping about some supposedly unindoctrinted 250K kids missing the larger problem.
Though you are correct about the level of knowledge of the HS movement, I'd venture to bet that a home schooled kid is far more EDUCABLE than the factory-model drones turned out by government schools.
"are" far more educable..
;-)
Maybe someone out there can tell me the truth on Homeschooling laws in Illinois. I know someone who does not teach there two kids and one of them is a female, age 13 and barely can print or spell or read. The male, is 11, and can't print words other than his name, or spell or read. Now, isn't there a law that says they have to teach them, isn't there someway the law can step in and make them teach there kids or make them put there kids in school?
Maybe someone out there can tell me the truth on Homeschooling laws in Illinois. I know someone who does not teach there two kids and one of them is a female, age 13 and barely can print or spell or read. The male, is 11, and can't print words other than his name, or spell or read. Now, isn't there a law that says they have to teach them, isn't there someway the law can step in and make them teach there kids or make them put there kids in school?
You DON'T have a beef with homeschoolers? You've called us every name in the nasty book.
Stupid-uneducated-stupid-uncaring with your elitist attitude that parents w/o a college education are stupid-racist-stupid enough not to want a good education for their children-bigots.
Way over the top. No beef?! Please.
You're complaining about parents who care enough to home educate, but refuse to see the brown log under your nose.
My concern with homeschooling, as Anon 8:32 pointed out, is that 250,000 of the parents teaching our kids never attended even one day of college. What kind of education are these kids getting?
I'm also concerned that parents' primary motivation for homeschooling their kids isn't so they'll get a better education.
I hope that the USDE will revise their study in the future to ferret out these supposed safety concerns to their kids. Is it guns? Gangs? Drugs? Or by "concern over school environment", do they mean they don't want their kids going to schools that teach sex education and evolution or where they might come into contact with black students or gay students?
"My beef is that I think that all kids are entitled to a high-quality education that helps them realize their potential and prepares them to compete in the global economy."
This is my beef too... and exactly why I homeschool my children. This is why my children will know enough mathematics to enter the STEM disciplines if they choose to do so, precisely why they will be skilled enoug to prepare and deliver a logical argument, and have a keen understanding of world history. That is the kind of education that prepares you for a global marketplace, and you probably aren't going to find it in your local assembly-line public school.
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I have my high school degree and that's about it and I homeschool my kids. I'm often curious about what it is people think a degree would offer me that would make me more capable of educating my kids.
The homeschooling environment in generally very different from a school environment. Skills and challenges are often so different that a common refrain from teachers turned homeschoolers is that their education degrees contributed very little, if anything, to their homeschooling efforts. If those parents find their education degrees unhelpful than what degree should I be seeking that would be useful?
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Ohhhhh I can tell this one is going to get interesting.
If I wanted to make an argument that perhaps stated some standard ought be set for the type of parent whom can be an @home educator, we'd probably start with a one question test:
"What is the value of education?"
If the answer is - "degreez dunt help me teach da kidds", we can root them out very easily.
But since, as the god fearing conservative I am, I believe in individual rights, I'll just use this post as an opportunity to point out a woman whom admits to seeing no value in a college education as proof positive that home schooling parents are intensely disconnected from the real world. That - and it's really funny.
"Given the Home schoolers generally make up a good chunk of the finalists in spelling and geography bees, it tends to show that HSers fall along the same distribution that we see elsewhere."
Perhaps. Or perhaps homeschooler kids are spending disproportionate amounts of time studying the published spelling word list for the national bee, or boning up on geography at the expense of other subjects.
Dan - Engage your critical thinking skills please. My comment was specifically about an education degree and how it relates to the environment of home education.
I assume you went with misdirection because you had nothing substantial to add?
Yes. Critically thinking, it's insane to believe that there is no value in higher education if you're going to try to prepare your kids for assumable higher education. Unless, of course, you're attempting to put out an entire generation of cement mixers.
I ain't sayin'. I'm just sayin.
dawn wrote:
I have my high school degree and that's about it and I homeschool my kids. I'm often curious about what it is people think a degree would offer me that would make me more capable of educating my kids.
How about knowledge?
Let's be clear: we're not talking about a college degree in education. We're talking about a college education of any sort.
I don't have a strong opinion about the value of a degree in education; but I do have a strong opinion about the value of a college education. I don't know how one can teach certain subjects at the high school level -- mathematics, biology, even literature -- without being exposed to those subjects on the college level.
Saying that my original post was about the need for a degree with a major in education is misleading and wrong.
(Oh, and I do try to keep my posts under a consistent moniker, "the Other Anonymous," so that others don't have to write the cumbersome "anon at X:XX am.")
"Saying that my original post was about the need for a degree with a major in education is misleading and wrong."
I'll address this first. I apologize. That was my impression but thank you for correcting me on that.
"I don't have a strong opinion about the value of a degree in education; but I do have a strong opinion about the value of a college education. I don't know how one can teach certain subjects at the high school level -- mathematics, biology, even literature -- without being exposed to those subjects on the college level."
Different parents handle it in different ways. Some may hire tutors or some may seek out mentors. I know a women who's teenage son had a great interest in geology. She herself knew nothing about it so she got in touch with a geology professor from a local university who now is now his science mentor.
Some kids take high school correspondence or college courses. I think a lot of american kids can start college courses at 16...I'm fairly sure we don't have a similar option her in Canada. One of the reasons I'm jealous of you guys. :)
A lot of parents will choose curriculm that's self-directed. Teachingtextbooks.com is a popular example if you wanted to take a look. Many homeschooling curriculums for older children follow a self-directed format.
A lot of parents simply learn what they need to in order to help their kids with it. The lack of a college degree doesn't mean a lack of curiousity or ability to learn after all. And those with degrees may still find themselves in the same boat as those of us without degrees depending on the subject. Nothing about a degree in theology prepares a person to teach calculus. Nothing about a degree in biology prepares a person to teach a child about Imperial Rome. Sure my dentist went and got a degree but I doubt she's in any better shape to teach my daughter about ions and valance electrons then I am.
And nothing about lacking a college degree should mean a person hasn't or can't be exposed to subjects on a college level. What I envy about those who've gone to college is the experience of going but the knowledge availible there isn't locked up there and anyone with sufficient curiousity, a library card and Google can access it.
I actually think you're hinting more at a value for learning and education that we both share. Our difference may be in how we go after it?
If you have any more questions, feel free to ask.
YDD wrote..."I'm also concerned that parents' primary motivation for homeschooling their kids isn't so they'll get a better education."
I've decided to stop being quite after I read this. I can understand YDD not comprehending some of the religion that surrounds homeschooling but to flat out question ANY parents motivation for why they homeschool little alone that you would think they aren't concerned they are getting a "better education" is over the line. It goes against the fiber of any parent that they would want a worse education for their child therby choose homeschooling. Most homeschoolers look at where their child's sitituation are frustrated and then search for alternatives.
My wife homeschools our three children. It wasn't our first choice. We don't belong to a church, but are Christian. We can't afford private school. We live in an area that the school district stopped allowing kids to transfer out of a failing school. My oldest daughter went to public school for from K-2nd. It was a nightmare. So we did 6 months of research and found websites and support groups and got into homeschooling. My wife and I are going to pay to have our daughter take the standarized test here in Illinois to see how she measures up so to answer your concern we think about it everyday if we are doing right by our children. I have a degree from U of I and my wife has a AA degree in early childhood development.
Please don't question parents (parents you don't know) commitment to their children. There are a hundred reasons homeschooling is choosen by parents. Your focus on the religious (evolution et al) is a pecentage but far from 100%.
I hope you have learned about homeschooling from this experience and hope you will continue to reseach it more, but withold judgement until you assemble all the facts.
Mark -
I'm looking at the facts. The U.S. Department of Education asked parents what their primary motivation was for homeschooling their kids, and only 16% said "Dissatisfaction with academic instruction." That means that for 84%, their primary motivation was not academic.
Now, clearly from your post, you fall into that 16%. But you should be aware that most people do not.
Amazing. You're telling Mark, who is a homeschooler, what the homeschool community is like.
But you should be aware that most people do not.
YDD...you're wrong about these statistics even as they seem so very important to you. Do you homeschool in IL? Are you involved with the homeschool community at all?
Again, just for clarity of facts; the NCES did NOT interview or study IL homeschoolers. Repeat, did not unless they found one or two who chased down NCES researchers and said, please, please interview me.
Whether you like it or not, they (DoE) could not chase down homeschoolers because they don't know who, what or where Illinois homeschoolers are. The same goes for the state of TX, OK, and a couple of other states. Quote your factoids all you want. The report is flawed.
Your reliance on this inaccurate 'educational research' and what you can find that can be perceived as negative is your problem. It's definitely not homeschoolers who educate their children just fine without your oversight or any other busybody.
Homeschooling Poll from 2006
http://www.harrisinteractive.com/harris_poll/index.asp?PID=653
65% --Dissatisfaction with Academic Instruction
37% --Too much attention trying to maintain discipline and too little attention to true learning
29%-- Public/Private does not challenge student
13%-- Want YEAR ROUND schooling
Can we move on now. I have a study you have a study. I'm sure I could find more and so could you. But to say parents chhose to homeschool for something other than a concern for better education is silly. Now are there parents that could do better, are over ther head on certain subjects? Probably. Those kids either get re-entered into a formal school or the parent seeks a homeschool network where their is group teaching involved and the person that teaches that subject takes the reigns. It's pretty organized.
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