Eric.ed.gov – Homeschool Progress Report 2009: Academic Achievement and Demographics

In 2007, the Home School Legal Defense Association commissioned Dr. Brian D. Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute to conduct a nationwide study of homeschooling in America. The study’s purpose was to develop a current picture of homeschool students and their families–capturing their demographics and educational background–and analyze the impact of certain variables on homeschoolers’ academic achievement. Dr. Ray collected data for the cross-sectional, descriptive study in spring 2008. The 11,739 participants came from all 50 states, Guam, and Puerto Rico. In the study, homeschoolers scored 34-39 percentile points higher than the norm on standardized achievement tests. The homeschool national average ranged from the 84th percentile for Language, Math, and Social Studies to the 89th percentile for Reading. The study also found that whether or not parents were teacher-certified had no impact on these high scores. Critics of home-schooling have long insisted that parents who want to teach their own children should become certified teachers first. But in this study, students received slightly higher scores if neither parent had ever held a state-issued teaching certificate than if one or both parents had. Critics also insist that the government should regulate homeschooling in order to ensure the quality of education that students receive. However, in this study, the degree to which homeschooling was regulated by state governments had no bearing on student test scores. Adjusting the scores down is appended. (Contains 9 figures and 8 endnotes.)