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##  Homeschooling. ERIC Digest.                                                  

Homeschooling -- educating children under the supervision of parents            instead of school teachers -- has grown steadily over the past                  several decades. In an earlier era, many children studied at home.              But by the beginning of the twentieth century, schools had become               commonplace and states had adopted compulsory school attendance                 laws. Only a few states allowed homeschooling as an exception to the            attendance requirement. A few more required parents only to educate             their children, without specifying the means. 
As a result,                    homeschoolers risked fines or jail sentences in most states. A lucky            few lived in jurisdictions that would not prosecute homes schoolers.            Other families found protection in public or private schools that               allowed children to enroll in "independent study" and then sent them            home. Most families just hoped to avoid notice. Gradually, state by             state, the legislature, a state court, an attorney general, or a                state board made homeschooling legal. 
This Digest discusses the               extent of contemporary homeschooling and its legal status, describes            available resources, presents evidence on the performance of                    homeschoolers, and notes how public opinion regarding the practice              has changed over time. HOW MANY CHILDREN ARE HOMESCHOOLED?The             homeschooling population has grown from some 10,000 to 15,000                   children in the late 1960s to perhaps one million children by                   2001 (roughly 2 percent of the school-aged population). The National            Center for Education Statistics, based on a spring 1999 household               survey, estimated that from 709,000 to 992,000 children in grades               K-12 were in full- or part-time homeschooling (Bielick and others               2001). 
The rate of growth may be slowing. Examination of reports              from eighteen states (Bunday 2001) suggests 11 percent growth per               year from fall 1995 through spring 1998. That's a sharp drop from an            annual growth rate of 24 percent for the same states in the                     preceding three years. Assuming annual growth of 10 percent, from               923,700 to 1,275,098 children would be homeschooled by the school               year 2001-02. 
Families that elect to educate their children at                home come from all major ethnic, cultural, and religious                        backgrounds, and all income levels. However, homeschoolers are more             likely to be religious, conservative, white, better educated, and               part of a two-parent family, compared with the average American                 family. Homeschooling families tend to have more children and be                middle-class (Bielick and others 2001; Henke and others 2000; Rudner            1999). 
Parents who homeschool their children are more likely to               vote, contribute money to political causes, contact elected                     officials about their views, attend public meetings or rallies, or              join community and volunteer associations (Smith and Sikkink 1999).             This holds true even when researchers compare only families with                similar characteristics, including education, income, age, race,                family structure, geographic region, and number of hours worked per             week. WHAT IS THE LEGAL STATUS OF HOMESCHOOLING?Today                     homeschooling is legal in all states. State law generally requires              homeschooling parents to file basic information with either the                 state or local education agency. Over half the states require some              kind of evaluation under some or all of the homeschooling options               available under state law. Usually, this evaluation involves testing            of students, but some states accept portfolio evaluations or a                  teacher evaluation. Much less frequently, states have education or              testing requirements for parents. Some states require submission of             a curricular plan. Parents do not need teaching certificates. 
The             United States Supreme Court has not explicitly ruled on                         homeschooling, though it is clear that reasonable regulations will              be allowed. The Court has found constitutional problems with                    compulsory school requirements in Wisconsin v. Yoder (1972), a                  limited decision involving the Amish. Yoder has led some lower                  courts to extend more protection to homeschooling families with a               religious orientation, compared with those with a secular                       orientation. 
A new source of legal tension has emerged over                   requests for part-time access to public school curricular or                    extracurricular programs. Much depends on the state's legal and                 policy environment. Some state statutes mandate that local districts            provide access for homeschoolers desiring to utilize curricular and             extracurricular programs. Maine, for example, broadly mandates such             access. Iowa mandates access to special-education programs for                  eligible homeschooling children. WHAT RESOURCES DO HOMESCHOOLING              FAMILIES USE?Parents are, of course, the primary resource.                  Typically, the mother takes the lead, though fathers usually pitch              in. Perhaps as many as one out of ten fathers takes the primary                 responsibility. 
Local and state support groups offer advice and               assistance. Sometimes, several families will share instructional                duties. Local support groups form readily if there are a sufficient             number of homeschooling families in an area. There is at least one              state-level homeschooling association in every state, and in some               states there are a dozen or more regional associations. Often,                  parents may examine instructional materials at a book fair or                   association meeting. 
Other popular resources include libraries,               museums, colleges, parks departments, churches, local businesses,               and schools. Many large and small publishers offer curricular                   packages, books, periodicals, and other materials for use in home               instruction. 
Public programs are growing. Alaska sponsors the                 Alyeska Central School, where teachers in Juneau work with students             all over the state via mail, the Internet, telephone, and occasional            home visits. In California, children can enroll in a public school's            independent study program. Washington and Iowa laws require public              schools to admit students part-time. Some public schools offer                  specialized homeschooling centers where families may obtain                     resources and instructional support, or where children may take                 classes (Hardy 2001; Lines 2000b). An estimated 18 percent of                   children who are homeschooled enroll in school part-time; 5 percent             enroll for 9 or more hours per week (Bielick and others 2001). HOW            WELL DO HOMESCHOOLERS PERFORM ACADEMICALLY AND                                  SOCIALLY?Researchers cannot tell whether the same children would            perform better or worse academically in a classroom or at home.                 State testing data do not necessarily reflect all homeschoolers                 because not all comply with the testing requirement. Other testing              efforts rely on volunteers. 
Keeping that caveat in mind, where                testing data are available, homeschoolers do well. For example, in              Alaska, the state's Alyeska Central School has tested its                       homeschooling children for several decades. As a group they usually             score above average in any subject area and at all grade levels. The            largest study to date, commissioned by the Home School Legal Defense            Association, involved 12,000 students tested through the Bob Jones              University testing services. The homeschooled children placed in the            62nd to the 91st percentile of national norms, depending on grade               level and subject area (Rudner 1999). 
At least one intriguing                 study suggests that student achievement for homeschoolers is not                related to the educational attainment of the parent (Duvall and                 others 1997). This is consistent with tutoring studies that suggest             the education level of a tutor has little to do with achievement of             a tutored child. 
College admission also may suggest success.                  Homeschoolers have reported admission to over 1,000 different U.S.              colleges and universities (Bunday 2001). 
People disagree about                whether homeschooling helps or hinders a child's social development.            Homeschooling children spend less time with peers and more time with            people of different ages. Most participate in scouting, church                  groups, and other associations. Many volunteer in their communities.            Some operate a business. There is no conclusive research suggesting             that additional time with same-aged peers is preferable to more time            with individuals of varying ages. HAVE PUBLIC ATTITUDES ABOUT                 HOMESCHOOLING CHANGED?An annual Gallup poll indicates public                opinion is mixed. Respondents who regard homeschooling as a "bad                thing" dropped from 73 percent in 1985 to 57 percent in 1997 (Rose              and others 1997). In 1988, when asked whether parents should have a             right to choose homeschooling, 53 percent thought they                          should (Gallup and Elam 1988). 
Eighty-two percent of respondents              in 1988 agreed that those providing instruction at home should "be              required to meet the same teacher certification standards as the                public schools." In 1997, 88 percent agreed that homeschools                    should "be required to guarantee a minimum level of educational                 quality." And in 1999, 92 percent said that children educated at                home should take all the state and national assessments required of             public school students (Rose and Gallup 1999). 
The 1999 Gallup                survey asked, for the first time, about publicly supported services             for homeschooled children. Access to special education courses in               public schools was favored by 92 percent of respondents; 80 percent             would allow homeschooling teachers to participate in teacher                    development activities; 74 percent would allow participation in                 school extracurricular activities; 73 percent would allow children              to enroll in driver's education; and 53 percent would provide                   transportation services. 
In sum, the growth rate in home                      instruction is slowing. Legal issues now focus narrowly on specific             regulations or access to resources. Public programs for                         homeschoolers are on the rise. Where test data are available,                   children educated at home continue to do well. Acceptance of this               option is growing, though the public would like to see the practice             regulated. RESOURCESBielick, Stacey; Kathryn Chandler; and                Stephen Broughman. "Homeschooling in the United States: 1999." NCES             Technical Report, 2001-033. Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of                Education, National Center for Education Statistics, 2001.                      http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2001033 
Bunday,               Karl. Learn in Freedom (online site).                                           http://learninfreedom.org/ (online resource). Cited material                    includes the following: Colleges that admit homeschoolers.                      http://learninfreedom.org/colleges_4_hmsc.html. omeschooling is                 growing worldwide.                                                              http://learninfreedom.org/homeschool_growth.html. 
Duvall, Steven              F.; D. Lawrence Ward; Joseph C. Delquadri; and Charles R.                       Greenwood. "An Exploratory Study of Home School Instructional                   Environments and Their Effects on the Basic Skills of Students with             Learning Disabilities." Education and Treatment of Children 20,                 2 (August 1997): 150-72.                                                        http://www.fswp.org/etc/contents/20_2.html 
Gallup, Alec M., and               Stanley M. Elam. "The 20th Annual Gallup Poll of the Public's                   Attitudes Toward the Public Schools." Phi Delta Kappan 70, 1 (1988):            33-46. 
Hardy, Lawrence. "Learning without School." American School            Board Journal 188, 8 (August 2001): 14-19. 
Henke, Robin R.;                   Phillip Kaufman; Stephen P. Broughman; and Kathryn Chandler. Issues             Related to Estimating the Home Schooled Population in the United                States. NCES Technical Report, 2000-311, Washington D.C.: U.S.                  Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics,              2000.                                                                           http://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2000311 
Lines,                Patricia. "Homeschooling Comes of Age." The Public Interest                     140 (2000a): 74-85. EJ 609 191.                                                 http:                                                                           //www.discovery.org/viewDB/index.php3?program=Misc&command=view&id=2            77 
_____. "When Home Schoolers Go to School: A Partnership Between            Families and Schools." Peabody Journal of Education 75, 1/2 (2000b):            159-86.                                                                         http://www.discovery.org/viewDB/index.php3?program=Misc&command/view            &id=483 
McDowell, Susan, and Brian Ray. "The Home Education                   Movement in Context, Practice, and Theory." Peabody Journal of                  Education 75, 1/2 (2000): 8-300. (Special Issue). 
Rose, Lowell C.,            and Alec M. Gallup. "The 31st Annual Phi Delta Kappa/Gallup Poll of             the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public Schools." Phi Delta Kappan             81, 1 (September 1999): 41-56. EJ 592 905.                                      http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/kpol9909.htm 
Rose, Lowell C.; Alec              M. Gallup; and Stanley M. Elam (1997). "The 29th Annual Phi Delta               Kappa/Gallup Poll of the Public's Attitudes Toward the Public                   Schools." Phi Delta Kappan 79, 1 (September 1997): 41-56. EJ 550                560. 
Rudner, Lawrence. "Scholastic Achievement and Demographic                Characteristics of Home School Students in 1998." Education Policy              Analysis Archives 7, 8 (March 23, 1999) (an online publication).                http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v7n8/ 
Smith, Christian, and David                    Sikkink. "Is Private Schooling Privatizing?" First Things 92 (April             1999): 16-20.                                                                   http://ww.firstthings.com/ftissues/ft9904/articles/smith.html 
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A Product of the ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management,                College of Education, University of Oregon, Eugene, Oregon,                     97403-5207. 
This publication was prepared with funding from the               Office of Educational Research and Improvement, U.S. Department of              Education, under contract No. ED-99-C0-0011. The ideas and opinions             expressed in this Digest do not necessarily reflect the positions or            policies of OERI, ED, or the Clearinghouse. This Digest is in the               public domain and may be freely reproduced.  The text of this Digest            may be viewed electronically at http://eric.uoregon.edu.                     **Title:** Homeschooling. ERIC Digest.                                                  **Document Type:** Information Analyses---ERIC Information Analysis Products (IAPs) (071); Information Analyses---ERIC Digests (Selected) in Full Text (073); **Target Audience:** Community, Policymakers                                                      **Available From:** ERIC Clearinghouse on Educational Management, 5207 University of                Oregon, Eugene, OR 97403-5207. Tel: 800-438-8841 (Toll Free); Fax:              541-346-2334. For full text: http://eric.uoregon.edu.                        **Descriptors:** Elementary Secondary Education,  Home Schooling, Nontraditional                 Education, Parents as Teachers, State Regulation                             **Identifiers:**
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