6/13/97 New Nationwide Study!

June 13, 1997

The critics of home schooling continue to brandish unflattering opinions but the facts are in — home education is an extremely effective practice. The largest and most comprehensive study of its kind was released this spring. Dr. Brian Ray, president of the National Home Education Research Institute, completed this study that was sponsored by the Home School Legal Defense Association.

As the home-school phenomenon flourishes, researchers continue to scrutinize its effects. The purpose of this nationwide study was to examine the academic achievement and social activities of home educated students and the basic demographics of their families, to assess the relationships between student achievement and selected student and family variables, and to describe and explore certain longitudinal changes among home educated students and their families. A summary of the study is given here and the full-length report is available as a book entitled Strengths of Their Own—Home Schoolers Across America.

The target population was all home schooling families in the United States. Data were collected on 1,657 families and their 5,402 children—275 of the families participated in the author’s 1990 study. These families, with 3.3 children and 98% being headed by married couples, were much larger than the United States average. Ninety-five percent of family income was earned by the fathers; 34% of them were professionals and 11% were small business owners. Eighty-eight percent of the mothers were homemakers/home educators and only 16% of the mothers worked outside the home. A wide variety of religious affiliations was evident; about 90% of the parents were Christians. The parents had higher than average educational attainment; 46% of the fathers had a bachelor’s degree or higher and 42% of the mothers had the same. These families’ median annual income of $43,000 was a little lower than the median for all married-couple families in the United States. The parents spent, on average, $546 per child per year for home education.

The mother did 88% of the formal teaching of the children while the father did 10% of the teaching. The large majority of these children were not being taught by professionally trained and government certified teachers.

On average, the children had been taught at home for 5 years since age 5, 85% were in grades K through 8, and their parents planned to home educate them through their secondary school years. Parents hand picked curriculum materials—rather than purchasing complete programs—for 71% of the students. The social activities of these children were quite varied; for example, 47% were involved in music classes, 48% were involved in group sports, and 77% participated in Sunday school.

These students scored, on the average, at high percentiles on standardized academic achievement tests: (a) total reading, 87th, (b) total language, 80th, (c) total math, 82nd, (d) total listening, 85th, (e) science, 84th, (f) social studies, 85th, (g) study skills, 81st, (h) basic battery (typically, reading, language, and mathematics), 85th, and (i) complete battery (all subject areas in which student was tested), 87th. (The national average is the 50th percentile.)

Several analyses were conducted to determine which independent variables were significantly related to academic achievement. There was no significant relationship between achievement and (a) whether the father was a certified teacher, (b) whether the mother was a certified teacher, (c) family income, (d) money spent on education, (e) legal status of the family, (f) time spent in formal instruction, (g) age formal instruction began, and (h) degree of state regulation of home schooling.

Achievement was statistically significantly related, in some cases, to father’s education level, mother’s education level, gender of student, years home educated, use of libraries, who administered the test, and use of computers. The relationships were, however, weak and not practically significant.

This and other studies indicate that very few background variables (e.g., socioeconomic status of parents, regulation by the state) explain the academic achievement of the home educated. It is possible that the home education environment ameliorates the effect of variables that are typically considered a detriment to students. A variety of students in a variety of home education settings have performed very well in terms of academic achievement.