Home Schooling vs. Traditional Schooling Achievement, Research Paper Example

Introduction

The below paper is designed to review the benefits and outcomes of home schooling and traditional schooling in K3. Focusing on student outcomes, achievements and the level of family involvement, the authors would like to extend the scope of the research beyond analyzing theories. The statements and claims related to the effectiveness of each schooling method need to be tested and backed by statistical data and facts. (Clive, 2004) Early childhood education is extremely important, as a recent government research paper confirms. (Calman and Tarr-Whelan, 2005 p. 2) In the United States, according to the U.S. Census data, (2011),between grades of K1 and K3, 3.4 % of children were homeschooled.

The authors of the current study would like to review related literature in order to determine the factors that influence student academic outcomes. Still, government education agencies are putting more emphasis on improving K3 education and early learning experiences, not only as a part of the education reform, but also as a long term policy that creates economically active, professional citizens, resulting in a growth of the economy. As the report says: “In the long run, quality early education builds an employable, educated workforce”. (Calman and Tarr-Whelan, 2005 p. 4) The aim of the current document is to evaluate whether home schooling or traditional early education delivers better results creating knowledgeable, responsible citizens of the future. (Belfield, 2004)

Home Schooling – A Review of Research and Literature

Desforges and Abouchaar (2003, p. 17) confirm that parental involvement has a positive impact on pupil achievement. This would normally indicate that home schooling, which means maximum parental impact would result in the best possible achievement of pupils. However, this might not be the case. First of all: there are different reasons why parents decide to home-school their children: they might disapprove school culture, the children might have learning difficulties initially, or their child’s social skills might not be developed enough for their age.

Barwagen et al. (2010) created a survey measuring the academic achievements of children who were home-schooled and comparing the results with public school students’. The research shows that there is a positive impact of increased parental involvement on children’s academic achievements. National test scores throughout primary and secondary education were compared and showed the advantage of home-schooled children.

According to reading and language proficiency, as well as numeracy skills, a research created by Thomas and Collier (2002) among minority students who were home-schooled showed a higher language proficiency, and accordingly better numeracy skills than the average attainment of public school minority students’. Rudner (1999) also proves with statistical data that compares achievement scores of 20.760 students that home school students’ achievement score is every subject than public school students’. Home school students in grades 1-4 performed better in mathematics, reading and literacy than public school children in academic settings. In Grade 3, home-schooled students showed the highest academic achievement.

One important statement of Isenberg (2007) is that while there is generally a gap between children from majority and minority groups within traditional schooling systems, this is not visible when examining results of home-schooled children.

As a conclusion, the authors would like to quote Dumas et al. (2010. p. 73) who state that “Research has shown that home-schooled children reach levels of academic achievement similar to or higher than their publicly schooled peers”. The authors also confirm that these comparisons were made based on a large scale study, comparing results of children from different economic, racial and social background.

Traditional Schooling – A Review of Studies and Research

One of the main focus points of research regarding academic achievement of K-3 students is socio-economic status and parental achievement. As mentioned before, the differences between children’s attainment scores across ethnic and social groups is more visible in public schools than in home-schooling environments. Below some of the publications will be reviewed.

The importance of parental involvement in the form of home-school agreements, language development and early childhood development programs is emphasized by Desforges and Abouchaar (2003, p. 6). The authors characterize different types of parental involvements that can improve academic achievement of children, such as home teaching, community involvement, volunteering, communication, decision making and involving children in decisions about schooling. (NICHD, 2005) All the above parental involvement methods were proven to be successful in improving achievements of children. The same has been confirmed by the Harvard Family Research Project’s publication. (2006).

Programs to improve student outcomes are developed to enable children to achieve their full potential. Calman and Tarr-Whelan (2005) lists several initiatives started by the government to improve early childhood education, such as the Legal Momentum’s Family Initiative and the Early Care and Education Collaborative. Reviewing international examples, Boocock (1995) states that public schooling has the prospect of engaging children and families and increasing academic achievements.

According to Rivkin et al. (2005, p. 418), the quality of teaching determines student outcomes. The continuous involvement with an expert on the subject and teacher training provided by the school resulted in higher grades in both mathematics and literacy throughout elementary school. The introduction of teacher training and involvement programs has resulted in higher achievement, even among disadvantaged students. This also indicates that public school engagement and curriculum development has a positive impact on student outcomes.

Focusing in minority group children in public schools, Thomas and Collier (2010) confirm that the U.S. government’s initiatives to provide bilingual education in early years of childhood have resulted in higher academic achievement among children across all subject areas. Therefore, the only solution for minority group families is no longer home-schooling: the government focuses on providing efficient measures to support bilingual children’s language development.

Conclusion

While the above review of literature has confirmed that family involvement has a great impact on academic achievement, social and life outcomes of students, the research is not comprehensive. There are several factors that have not been measured adequately, for example the soco-economic status of parents, the level of attachment, methods used by parents, community links of home-schooling families and parents’ academic backgrounds. (Neuman and Cunningham, 2009) These factors, – the authors believe – influence the academic achievement of both home-schooled children and those in public education. Without measuring the impact of these, as well as the initial socialization, academic and language skills of children, it is impossible to determine which schooling method delivers better results. The presence of contradicting reports indicate that there is a need for a comprehensive, follow-up study that takes into consideration all social, academic and methodological factors, in order to compare results. Until then, the debate will always exist, not to mention that some parents will choose home-schooling for religious, cultural or political reasons, not based on learning outcomes.

References

Belfield, C., (2004, June 29). Modeling school choice: A comparison of public, private-independent, private-religious and home-schooled students. Education Policy Analysis Archives, 12(30). Retrieved [Date] from http://epaa.asu.edu/epaa/v12n30/

Barwagen, L., Falciani, N., Putnam, J., Reamer, M., Stair, E. (2004) Academic achievement of homeschool and public school students and student perception of parent involvementThe School Community Journal. 2004. Retrieved from: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ794828.pdf

Boocock, S. (1995) Early childhood programs in other nations: goals and outcomes. The Future of Children. Vol. 5. No. 3. 94-114

Calman, L., Tarr-Whelan (2005) Early childhood education for all: a wise investment. Recommendations arising from “The Economic Impacts of Child Care and Early Education: Financing Solutions for the Future” a conference. 2005. Retrieved from: http://web.mit.edu/workplacecenter/docs/Full%20Report.pdf

Clive, B. (2004) Modeling school choice: a comparison of public, private and home-schooling enrollment options. Education Policy Analysis Archives 12:30

Desforges, C., Abouchaar, A. (2003) The impact of parental involvement, parental support and family education on pupil achievement and adjustment: A literature review. Queen’s Printer 2003

Dumas, T., Gates, S., Schwarzer, D. (2010) Evidence for homeschooling: constitutional analysis in light of social science research. Widener Law Review. 2010. Vol. 16: 63 64-87

Harvard Family Research Project. Family Involvement in Early Childhood Education. Family Involvement Makes a Difference. Spring 2006 Homeschool Progress Report.

Isenberg, E. (2007) What have we learned about homeschooling? Peabody Journal of Education. Vol. 82. 2-3 pp. 387-409

Neuman, S., Cunningham, L. (2009) The impact of professional development and coaching onearly language and literacy instructional practices. American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 46, No. 2 (Jun., 2009), pp. 532-566

NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. (2005) Early child care and children’s development in the primary grades: follow-up results from the NICHD study of early child care. American Educational Research Journal, Vol. 42, No. 3 (Autumn, 2005), pp. 537-570

Rivkin, S., Hanushek, E., Kain, J. (2005) Teachers, schools and academic achievement. Econometrica, Vol. 73, No. 2 (March, 2005), pp. 417–458

Rudner, L. (1999) The scholastic achievement and demographic characteristics of home school students in 1998. Education Policy Analysis Archives. 1999

Thomas, W., Collier, V. (2010) A National Study of School Effectiveness for Language Minority Students’ Long-Term Academic Achievement. Retrieved from: http://www.usc.edu/dept/education/CMMR/CollierThomasComplete.pdf

U.S. Census Bureau.(2011) Students Who Are Homeschooled by Selected Characteristics: 2007 Table 240 of the U.S. Census Bureau’s Statistical Abstract of the United States: 2012. (U.S. Census Bureau, September 2011)