For Phyllis Young Only

The purpose of this study was to compare the academic achievements of standardized test to homeschooled children and public-school children. Families were invited to participate in the study through posting in the community, radio, and email. Interested parties contacted the researcher to schedule home appointments. The candidates were screened during a telephone interview to ensure that the homeschooled children never attended public schools and the public-school children were never homeschooled.

The sample came from 2 provinces. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The total was 74 children. 37 home-schooled and 37 public schooled, all within the ages of 5-10. Each homeschooled child was matched to a public schooled child of similar age. The home-schooled group had 20 boys and 17 girls with a mean age of 7 years. The public-schooled group had 21 boys and 16 girls with a mean age of 7 years 1 months. The mean difference in age between the two groups was 2 months.

This was a correlation study and the Woodcock-Johnson Test of Achievement was given by the principal investigator. The tests were conducted in the children’s home and given in separate rooms from the parents and any siblings in the home. There were 7 tests used to measure aptitudes. The Letter-Word Identification Test, The Passage Comprehension Test, The Word Attack Test, the Science Test, The Social Science Test, The Humanities Test and the Calculation Test.

They transformed the raw scores in each of the seven tests into difference scores by subtracting the child’s predicted grade level from his or her actual level (both predicted and actual levels were derived from the Woodcock-Johnson scales) A positive score indicated the number of years a child was functioning above grade level, whereas a negative difference score indicating that the child was not meeting grade level standards.

The results were that the children who received structured homeschooling were superior to the children enrolled in public schools across all 7 tests. A multivariate analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted that included scores from all seven tests. The MANOVA was appropriate because multiple measures were providing indicators of achievement. The tests were used as the dependent variable and the two groups, public school and structured homeschool was the independent variable. The MANOVA confirmed that the level of standardized achievement was in favor of homeschooling.

My analysis of the testing was that there were variances such as unstructured homeschool and structured homeschool. The structured home school taught from a lesson plan like most public schools do. The unstructured homeschool taught with no clear guidelines, the results indicate that structured homeschool did score higher, than non-structured. At the end of the day the results still came to be homeschool children achieve higher. So, I can’t see that as being fair in results.

The next variance was the educational background of the mothers. The article said that the educational background had no bearing. I disagree with that. It is known that children whose parents are educated have a greater chance of their children achieving at a higher level. I think another study should be done with structured home school and public homeschool. These groups seem to be similar since both are using a lesson plan.

I also think that the environment should be something to be considered again. What are the changes that the homeschool children are already in their element whereas the public-school children are not? Would the test results would have been different if the homeschool children took the test in a public school where they are not comfortable? I think this was a good study, but I think it can be more believable if those variances were not there.

References

Chang, S., Gould, O. N., & Meuse, R. E. (2011). The Impact of Schooling on Academic

Achievement: Evidence from Homeschooled and Traditionally Schooled Students.