Abstract
<p>This study added to existing data on home school effectiveness by comparing the academic achievement of 66 home school students with 66 of their grade-level peers in traditional public schools. The two groups of students were matched on gender, race, and grade level and were administered the Woodcock-Johnson Psychoeducational Battery III. No significant difference in overall academic achievement was found between the groups. Both home school and public school students had average or above average scores in reading, math, written language, and broad knowledge (science, social studies, and humanities). The results further revealed a downward trend in math, reading and broad knowledge scores with increasing grade level. This trend suggests that home school and public school students experience a “developmental mismatch” between the changes that occur in adolescence and their school/home experiences, resulting in lower motivation, confidence, and academic performance.</p>
Highlights
A growing number of families in the United States are educating their children at home rather than in a traditional school setting
No significant difference in overall academic achievement was found between the groups
Individual student standard scores for each of the four Woodcock-Johnson III Tests of Achievement (WJ III) clusters (Broad Reading, Broad Math, Broad Written Language, Broad Knowledge) were averaged and mean standard scores were calculated for each type of schooling at the elementary, middle school and high school levels
Summary
A growing number of families in the United States are educating their children at home rather than in a traditional school setting. In 2009, approximately 1.5 million American parents were teaching their children at home, up from the 850,000 students the federal government estimated were home schooled in 1999 (Ray, 2009), the growth rate has declined over the last two decades. Once discouraged in many states, it is legal in every state, the laws and standards that regulate it vary. A review of the literature indicates parents home school their children for varied reasons. Other reasons pertain to dissatisfaction with the public schools, including inadequate academic standards, the lack of a quality curriculum and character education, teaching methods, and control of student behavior (Cizek, 1988; Gray, 1993; Murray, 1996; Wilhelm & Firmin, 2009)
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