Tag Archives: NCES

HOMESCHOOLERS BEAT NATIONAL AVERAGE ON ACT

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Home School Legal Defense Association

P.O. Box 3000, Purcellville, VA 20134

New HSLDA logo

J. Michael Smith, Esq.
President

Michael P. Farris, Esq.
Chairman



HOMESCHOOLERS BEAT NATIONAL AVERAGE ON ACT


Purcellville, VA—Recently, ACT published its results for 2009. On a scale of 1–36 homeschoolers scored an average of 22.5, which beat the national average of 21.1. “This is a remarkable achievement and shows that homeschool parents are successfully preparing their children for college,” said Michael Smith, president of HSLDA.

According to ACT officials, research shows that high achievement on the ACT strongly indicates a “greater likelihood of success in college.” Success on the ACT test also reveals that the courses taken by high school students to prepare for college have been effective.

A total of 1.48 million students took the ACT in 2009 which included 11,535 homeschoolers or just under 1 percent of the total.

The new ACT results also support the numerous studies which show that homeschoolers are out-performing their public school peers in K–12. The latest study from the National Home Education Research Institute shows that the average homeschooler scores 37 percentile points higher on standardized achievement test than the average public schooled student.

It has always been the position of homeschool advocates that the one-on-one instruction provided by dedicated parents is a more effective way to educate children. It’s also much cheaper.

The average public school spends US$10,000 per child per year whereas the average homeschooler spends US$500 per child per year. Homeschooling is also growing rapidly. The National Center for Education Statistics, part of the Federal Department of Education, estimates that homeschooling is growing at around 7% per year.

Due to the success and growth of the homeschool movement Washington Post education columnist Jay Mathews recently concluded that, “Homeschooling is the sleeping giant of the American education system.”

To find out more please visit www.hslda.org.

Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is a 26-year-old, 85,000 member non-profit organization and the preeminent national association advocating the legal right of parents to homeschool their children.

Homeschooling goes boom in America

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http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?pageId=85408

Homeschooling goes boom in America

74 percent increase in number of families teaching own children

Posted: January 05, 2009

By Chelsea Schilling
© 2009 WorldNetDaily

A homeschooling movement is sweeping the nation – with 1.5 million children now learning at home, an increase of 75 percent since 1999.

The Department of Education’s National Center for Education Statistics reported homeschooling has risen by 36 percent in just the last five years.

“There’s no reason to believe it would not keep going up,” NCES statistician Gail Mulligan told USA Today.

A 2007 survey asked parents why they choose to homeschool and allowed them to provide several reasons. The following are the most popular responses:

  • Concern about the school environment, including reasons such as safety, drugs or negative peer pressure – 88 percent
  • A desire to provide religious or moral instruction – 83 percent
  • A dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools – 73 percent
  • Nontraditional approach to children’s education – or “unschoolers” who consider typical curriculums and standardized testing as counterproductive to quality education – 65 percent
  • Other reasons, such as family time, finances, travel and distance – 32 percent
  • Child has special needs (other than physical or mental health problems) that schools cannot or will not meet – 21 percent
  • Child has a physical or mental health problem – 11 percent

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Parents who report that they homeschool to provide religious or moral instruction increased from 72 percent to 83 percent from 2003 to 2007.

Above all other responses, parents cited providing religious and moral instruction as the most important factor in the decision to teach their children at home (36 percent). The second most important issue was concern about the school environment (21 percent), while the third reason was dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools (17 percent).

Research has shown the positive effects of homeschooling through the years. While some critics say teaching children at home may stunt their social growth, Dr. Brian D. Ray, president of National Home Education Research Institute, reveals homeschooled students fare well or better than public and private school students in terms of social, emotional and psychological development.

Additionally, homeschoolers earn higher marks than peers who attend public schools. In Academic Leadership, and online journal, Dr. Ray and Bruce K. Eagleson also cite findings from at least three nationwide studies across the United States and two nationwide studies in Canada.

“The home educated in grades K to 12 have scored, on average, at the 65th to 80th percentile on standardized academic achievement tests in the United States and Canada, compared to the public school average of the 50th percentile,” the report states.

Three studies also show that demographics, income and education level of homeschooling parents are generally irrelevant with regard to quality of education in a home setting. On average, homeschoolers in low-income families with less formal education still score higher than state-school averages.