Concordia & Mt Allison University study: “…if the set curriculum is structured and followed at home, some children today have better test scores in math and reading compared to students attending public schools.”
Homeschool Gets Better Report Card
"The home-schooled students tested about half a grade higher in math and 2.2 grades higher in reading"
Unbiased research?
A National Home Education Research Institute study found that home learners consistently scored higher than public school students in social development - especially girls and older children.
Duh? Is this supposedly an unbiased scientific study? It would seem to imply so. But where have we heard this scenario before? Oh, yeah, it's the tobacco industry research. It seems that 94% of tobacco-affiliated researchers found that passive tobacco smoke was NOT harmful whereas only 13% of non-tobacco-affiliated researchers found it was not harmful (Barnes, Deborah E. 1998. Why review articles on the health effects of passive smoking reach different conclusions. JAMA. 279(19): 1566-1570.). Would you say there's a chance of research bias here too?
Poor research . . . .
Results show the students attending public schools tested at or above their grade levels, but the home-schooled students tested about half a grade higher in math and 2.2 grades higher in reading.
Researchers concluded, among other things, that students were receiving more personalized attention at home, which helped them perform better academically.
“This advantage may be explained by several factors, including smaller class sizes, more individualized instruction, or more academic time spent on the core subjects,” Sandra Martin-Chang, a professor at Concordia University, said in a statement Thursday.
However, when they studied a small group of home-schooled students whose education was unstructured, the results changed.
Once into the study, the researchers found that “structured” and “unstructured” homeschoolers had widely different results. The unstructured homeschooling method is referred to as “un-schooling,” which does not use teachers, textbooks or a structured curriculum.
Students from the unstructured group showed less positive results during testing, with some scores showing students fell four grade levels behind the other students educated at home.
This is either poor reporting or poor research or perhaps both. There are internal contradictions as reported. Obviously, all groups of homeschoolers did not do as well. Yet, it is glossed. Notice the biased reporting of falling "four grade levels behind" is glossed as "less positive results." If my simple math is correct, this puts them about two grade levels below the public school students. This is a significant difference. Average the shortcomings of the poor performing homeschoolers with the high performers, you roughly have them about equal to the public school students.
Also, there seems to be some version of musical chairs with groups. Shifting among the groups as the researchers seemed to do, I don't see how they could have representative demographics, which I suspect they don't. My best guess is that we're talking about a select group of homeschoolers who would have excelled anywhere--public school or Christian school, or private school, or homeschool. The research isn't valid unless you're comparing apples with apples.
Also, a good factor analysis here, I think, may have shown a clustering around structure rather than homeschool versus public school. In a representative sampling of public school students, you would have some high-achieving students in the more structured public schools. For one, I think the sampling is far too small for any broad conclusions. One needs a broad sampling of public schools and homeschoolers. Without further hard data, I question whether Sandra Martin-Chang is giving anything more than her personal opinion or hypothesis at best. I would like to see the research design and data. Personally, I have not seen a good reliable and valid study done by a homeschool group yet. Most are seriously lacking in rigor, representative demographics, validity, and good research design.
Studies
Personally, I have not seen a good reliable and valid study done by a homeschool group yet.
It isn't likely to happen any time soon. Homeschooling is not a system that can be quantified in the same way that the public school system can. And even the studies done on public schools can't account for things like family life, socio-economic status and developmental delays.
You can find some data at the National Center for Education Statistics.
No easy answers . . . . .
Personally, I have not seen a good reliable and valid study done by a homeschool group yet.
It isn't likely to happen any time soon. Homeschooling is not a system that can be quantified in the same way that the public school system can. And even the studies done on public schools can't account for things like family life, socio-economic status and developmental delays.
You can find some data at the National Center for Education Statistics.
No system (public school, private school, Christian school, homeschooling, etc.) is homogeneous. There are varying elements throughout. However, it is possible to identify and analyze factors that accompany academic success. These factors such as parental education, socio-economic status, parental involvement, structured learning activities, etc. do tend to cluster more or less among the approaches to schooling. These factors, rather than the schooling approach, tend to give one method of schooling a better rating than the others. For example, homeschool parents tend to have a higher level of education than their public school counterparts which may provide an advantage in academic achievement for their offspring regardless of their method of schooling.
Tendencies
I agree- and that is why IMO studies are of limited value when all the variables can't be accounted for.
However, homeschooling cannot be called a 'system' because not only are the laws governing HSing different in each state, families are free to use a variety and combination of methods and curriculum. There simply is no homeschooling system- it is a right that some parents have decided to embrace, especially when they believe their local schools are failing their children.
Traditional schools are 'systemized' in the sense that they have been required to adopt an approved curriculum, conform to certain standards, and work toward the content of nationally recognized standardized tests- especially those with state accreditation. However, the advent of school choice, experimental, and charter schools is going to muddy the waters somewhat for those looking for solid data on academic outcomes.
We do know a few things about the quality of education- parental involvement is definitely key, even more so than parental education. Teachers with strong communication skills and an affinity for children have been found to be more effective in the classroom, regardless of certification. But even those things don't take into account the different developmental stages of individual children, who are still herded like cattle based on age, instead of on gender and other key factors to readiness. Education is a very complex subject, and attempted to boil it down just turn it into goo.
It is unfortunate that homeschool parents have had to fight for the right to direct the education of their own children, and that 'studies' have been done to try to prove that parents can successfully provide an education for their children outside of the traditional school. Compulsory education laws simply state that parents should provide their children with an adequate education- there is no language in the law that requires a child to learn, or every school in the nation would be breaking the law. They can't guarantee outcomes, and neither can parents. Even public schools that receive an "Excellence" rating have anywhere from 20-30% of their kids performing below proficiency in math and reading, which are core skills.
Confusing things that are essentially different . . . .
It is unfortunate that homeschool parents have had to fight for the right to direct the education of their own children, and that 'studies' have been done to try to prove that parents can successfully provide an education for their children outside of the traditional school. Compulsory education laws simply state that parents should provide their children with an adequate education- there is no language in the law that requires a child to learn, or every school in the nation would be breaking the law. They can't guarantee outcomes, and neither can parents. Even public schools that receive an "Excellence" rating have anywhere from 20-30% of their kids performing below proficiency in math and reading, which are core skills.
Parental choice of schooling is a right. This is a political question and a question of personal liberty. Parents are the ones who are endued with the responsibility and right to raise and educate their children. Whether we agree with their choices is immaterial to the basic concept of right. It is their right even if they make poor choices. In any of the choices, there are going to be poor educational quality outcomes by academic standards in individual cases for whatever the cause.
Educational quality, on the other hand, is a separate and distinctly different question. Quality is a highly variable matter depending on how we define and assess it. Also, there are too many variables to specifically say that one limited set of factors is decisive in determining quality. Quality is linked to outcomes as measured against specific goals and expectations. These goals and expectations vary widely. Therefore, we cannot justify or refute the right to homeschooling or private schooling based on supposed quality of outcomes. It is a political-philosophical position, not a pragmatic decision. Let me illustrate. I would rather have my son in a poor Christian school receiving Biblical teaching with a below average academic education than in the best academic institution being taught evolution and Marxist theory by atheists. My concept of quality depends on where my priorities are.
In sum, my argument is that homeschoolers are fighting the wrong battle at the wrong place. If homeschooling is based on the premise that parents can do it as well or better, then it follows that homeschooling can be denied if public schools can do it better. Public schools are held to no such accountability of having to do it as well or better in order to exist. Public schools assert their right to exist without basing it on performance. Thus, homeschooling is a right regardless whether parents are doing it better or not. Parental choice is a right that does not need justification by outcomes. Do you understand my position?
That's it
If homeschooling is based on the premise that parents can do it as well or better, then it follows that homeschooling can be denied if public schools can do it better. Public schools are held to no such accountability of having to do it as well or better in order to exist. Public schools assert their right to exist without basing it on performance. Thus, homeschooling is a right regardless whether parents are doing it better or not. Parental choice is a right that does not need justification by outcomes. Do you understand my position?
That isn't how I said it, but that is what I said. The law simply states that parents are required to provide an education. Outcomes are not a factor in the law, or they shouldn't be, but the fact is that a homeschooled child in Ohio and a few other states who doesn't score high enough on a nationally recognized standardized test will be required to attend a traditional school. There are no penalties if the child fails in PS, however. They often aren't even held back a grade.