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A Heuristic Model to Guide the Study of Homeschoolers’ Academic Competence, by Carlos Valiente, Tracy L. Spinrad, Nancy Eisenberg & Brian Ray
Background
This paper, and the model it presents, is primarily aimed at researchers to help them refine
their understanding of the academic competence (AC) of home educated students. However, the connectivity of the various elements presented in the model might also be useful to the practitioners of home education or organizations that support home educators.
There were four researchers who collaborated on the subject paper: Carlos Valiente, Tracy L. Spinrad, Nancy Eisenberg, and Brian Ray (2024); and they will be hereafter referred to as “the
researchers.”
The need for this approach comes from the preponderance of extant research that attempts to compare home-educated students to traditionally schooled children, drawing conclusion based on between-group differences. However, because home education functions outside of many pragmatic paradigms necessary for institutionalized schooling (i.e., daily and yearly schedules, standardized curriculum, age- or ability-grouped classrooms, etc.), there is a need to study
home educators independent of comparisons with traditionally schooled students. The goal of this paper is to begin to fill this gap by proposing this model which can guide a next generation of studies designed to understand homeschoolers’ AC.
The researchers identified an incongruence in existing data between the intent of parents to continue home educating long term and other data which shows a large portion of students who are only home education for 1-2 years. The
assessment is that there might be “challenges that inhibit learning,” which are not address due to the prevalence of the between-group studies. In-group studies would be necessary to explain such apparent discrepancies.
Methodology
The researchers developed and presented a heuristic (a pragmatic starting place) model “conceptualized to guide research on understanding individual differences in homeschoolers’ AC (broadly defined)” The
model is shown below:
. . . . .
The full article can be viewed online: click here.
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Thank you,
Brian D. Ray, Ph.D.
President, National Home Education Research Institute
(www.nheri.org)
