Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Home Schooling reduces impact of Socio-Economic Factors

Interesting study out of Canada from the Fraser Institute:







The Fraser Institute: Home Schooling Improves Academic Performance and Reduces Impact of Socio-Economic Factors

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - Oct. 4, 2007) - Home schooling appears to improve the academic performance of children from families with low levels of education, according to a report on home schooling released today by independent research organization The Fraser Institute.

"The evidence is particularly interesting for students who traditionally fall through the cracks in the public system," said Claudia Hepburn, co-author of Home Schooling: From the Extreme to the Mainstream, 2nd edition and Director of Education Policy with The Fraser Institute.

"Poorly educated parents who choose to teach their children at home produce better academic results for their children than public schools do. One study we reviewed found that students taught at home by mothers who never finished high school scored a full 55 percentage points higher than public school students from families with comparable education levels."

The article also states the the research paper was peer-reviewed.

The full report is available at www.fraserinstitute.org.


Interesting data:

Research shows that almost 25 per cent of home schooled students in the United States perform one or more grades above their age-level peers in public and private schools. Grades 1 to 4 home school students perform one grade level higher than their public- and private-school peers. By Grade 8, the average home schooled student performs four grade levels above the national average.


Here's some info on the Fraser Institute from their website:

The Fraser Institute is an independent research and educational organization based in Canada. Its mission is to measure, study, and communicate the impact of competitive markets and government intervention on the welfare of individuals. To protect the Institute's independence, it does not accept grants from governments or contracts for research. Visit www.fraserinstitute.org.



Look here to see what Source Watch and Wikipedia had to say about the Fraser Institute. It is described as a libertarian think tank.

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3 comments:

Anonymous said...

The US data sounds a lot like Brian Ray's stats at NHERI.

Unknown said...

The math is simple. A parent who is solely responsible for little Johnny's education is going to be more on the ball than a parent who 'fully' trusts the school system to do it. How's the old saying go, "if you want something done right, do it yourself?" I'm passing this on to my younger brother whose in-laws are giving him grief.

Janine Cate said...

>How's the old saying go, "if you want something done right, do it yourself?"

I think it goes a little further than that. It's that whole "give a man a fish" thing verses "teach a man to fish." In the long run, parents who take responsibility for their children will be more successful because both parent and child learn valuable skills along the way.