How are K-12 students faring compared to traditional education? Quite well as a matter of fact! Check the stats.

If you like facts and figures, here are some studies on home education. It’s encouraging to see that financial status, being formally educated as a teacher, race, etc., do not negate the parent’s ability to “provide a very successful academic environment.”

Dr. Brian Ray has been studying the home education movement for over thirty  years. His findings are published by National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI). Some of the most pertinent are:

  • Research Facts on Homeschooling – March 2020
    Click here for detail on the following topics:
    • General Facts, Statistics & Trends
    • Reasons and Motivations for Home Educating
    • Academic Performance
    • Social, Emotional, and Psychological Development (Socialization)
    • Gender Differences in Children and Youth Respected?
    • Success in the “Real World” of Adulthood
    • General Interpretation of Research on Homeschool Success or Failure
  • Homeschool SAT Scores for 2014 Higher Than National Average – June 7, 2016
    “The SAT 2014 test scores of college-bound homeschool students were higher than the national average of all college-bound seniors that same year… The homeschool students’ SAT scores were 0.61 standard deviation higher in reading, 0.26 standard deviation higher in mathematics, and 0.42 standard deviation higher in writing than those of all college-bound seniors taking the SAT, and these are notably large differences.”
    Click here for more detailed information.
  • Academic Achievement and Demographic Traits of Homeschool Students
    “Most children of about ages 6 through 17 have been placed in institutional schools with formally trained teachers and administrators for the past several generations. Homeschool parents, on the other hand, provide the majority of their children’s academic and social and emotional instruction and training in and based out of their homes without sending their children away to a place called school. Therefore, policymakers, educators, school administrators, judges, and parents often wonder whether ordinary mothers and fathers, who are not government-certified teachers, are capable of effectively teaching and rearing their children after age five.”
    Click here to read this extensive study from 2010.

The National Center for Education Statistics is another source of studies on homeschooling. One of them shows details of the increase in homeschoolers. Click here to read report.