Homeschoolers Do Better, New Study Shows

Home-educated students do notably better on standardized academic tests on average than those in institutional schools, according to a powerful new study reviewing available data. 

In an exclusive interview, the researcher behind the analysis expressed surprise that homeschoolers continue to perform so well even as the movement diversifies and grows ever larger.   

For years, parents struggling with the decision of how to educate their children have wondered if homeschooling really provides as strong of an academic base as a conventional school. In the last 50 years, homeschooling has gone from being perceived as a fringe experiment to a form of education serving around six percent of American school-age children; that is about 3.4 million K-12 homeschool students. 

This mainstreaming of homeschooling has led to a lot of questions regarding the effectiveness of home education — especially whether children are really learning. 

National Home Education Research Institute chief Dr. Brian Ray, widely considered the nation’s top academic in this field, sought to answer this and other questions.

Groundbreaking New Study

Just this summer, Dr. Ray published one of the largest nationwide studies of its kind on the subject. It is the first national academic-achievement study of home education in more than 15 years.

The results were clear and overwhelming: Home-educated students continue to perform well, scoring 25 to 29 percentile points above the national average.

The average student is at the 50th percentile. Dr. Ray found that the average homeschool student is scoring in the 75th to 79th percentile range.

This study used numerous tests and examined reading, language, math, science, and social studies.

Although standardized tests are not a perfect way to measure the likelihood of success, they are still a meaningful metric that deserves to be looked at when evaluating academic abilities, Dr. Ray said.

Similar studies have been done in the past, although more than 15 years ago. Over the last 15 years, homeschoolers have continued to stay ahead of the norm, even as the homeschool community continues to diversify.

When Dr. Ray was asked whether anything surprised him about the results, he responded that he thought it was possible to have more regression toward the national mean, as the reasons for homeschooling have continued to grow.

Over the last 15 years, homeschooling has changed at an astonishing pace. These are just some of the reasons that Dr. Ray and his team sought answers.

The Methodology

The researchers used several well-established tests and examined students across five core subjects. But they did not stop there. Instead, the researchers considered variables such as household income, parental education levels, sex, number of children per family, ethnicity, and several other factors.

Some critics claim that homeschoolers simply do better because their families are wealthier or the parents have better education. These are among the claims that the researchers sought to examine.

The results were surprising, even to the researchers. They found that neither household income nor parental education levels had a meaningful relationship with the child’s educational achievement. Ethnicity made almost no difference either; neither did government intervention.

All of this would seem to go against what would be expected. It is in stark contrast with typical research on public and private institutional-school education, where economic and ethnic factors play a major role.

Benefits of Homeschooling

When Dr. Ray was asked why these trends did not hold true in home education, he offered several hypotheses.

“When you have more individualized attention, when you have a more customized curriculum, when you have less bullying, when you have a safer environment, when you have more academically engaged time, when you have more caring and nurturing relationships — all of those things, from social science research on human relationships and experience, generally make for a better education,” said Dr. Ray.

“And all of those things I just mentioned are systemically stronger parts of home-based education than they are of institutionalized education,” added Dr. Ray, who just published a major op-ed in the Wall Street Journal last month about homeschooling.

In short, Dr. Ray believes the very structure and nature of homeschooling itself is among the key factors that produce better outcomes and a more level playing field for all children.

While this is the largest and most up-to-date study of its kind, researchers cautioned that it does not prove homeschooling is better for every child, that every homeschooler will score above average, or even that homeschooling causes higher-than-average test scores.

Standardized tests are limited and do not measure every academic area. Scoring high on a test and having a successful education are not the same thing.

However, the study is important, as it shows homeschoolers’ performance relative to the national norm, as well as relationships between demographic variables and homeschool achievement.

Resurgence in Homeschooling

After the recent surge in homeschooling — NHERI estimates almost 3.5 million U.S. children are now home-educated — questions about how this happened are coming to the forefront. But the reality is that, throughout most of American history, homeschooling was the norm.

It was not until the early 20th century that home education began to decline. But according to the pro-government-regulation Coalition for Responsible Home Education, by the 1980s, it was slowly gaining popularity again. 

The resurgence in homeschooling has fueled debate over whether parents can provide an adequate education without the help of the government. The new study offers still more evidence that they can — and do.

Even after such a large and comprehensive study, parents still have questions. Dr. Ray said he is already collecting data and formulating yet another nationwide study on homeschooling, although not much information has been shared publicly yet. 

Answering the Critics

Despite all of this, homeschooling still has its critics. Questions about home education being discussed in legislatures nationwide and around the world right now go beyond academics, too.  

Will homeschooled children be prepared for adulthood? Will they integrate well into society? Can parents really provide a well-rounded education?

Asked about which of these questions and criticisms, if any, should be taken seriously, Dr. Ray said parents need to take homeschooling seriously and do it responsibly, “with care and diligence, without being anxious or stressed out about it.”

“You don’t get to be lazy or sloppy; you need to put solid effort into it,” added Dr. Ray, who homeschooled his own eight children. “There is criticism against some parents, but it’s only some parents, and within the homeschool community, let’s watch out for each other and help each other.”

When asked about the strongest criticism that could be made of his study, Dr. Ray cited its limitations. “In research, we talk about limitations,” he responded. “If research is well done, you talk about limitations, whereas people who like to attack a researcher use the word ‘flaws.’”

The study also does not show why homeschoolers score so much higher than the national average, or whether the impressive results are directly attributable to home education, he explained. That means more research is needed.

“I would say that for the genuine scholar who thinks the limitations of this study or other studies are too much, I would encourage him or her: Go do your own study and show us what we are missing, rather than just opine and make critical comments,” he said. “Get the data yourself and do the study — please do the study.”