Hello, , from NHERI.

The facts are in, again. But first, the question: Is it possible for parents, without government-issued teaching licenses and without the generous salaries and benefits of teacher-union teachers, to teach their children well?

If you watch the teacher-union protests and rallies in Madison, Wisconsin, if you read the NEA's (National Education Association) annual "resolutions," and if you listen to most professors of education at both state-run and private universities, you would have to conclude non-certified parents cannot be successful teachers of their children. If you listen to the general cult of professionalism that is rather ubiquitous in our "developed nations," you would have to claim that parents' cannot teach their children that the letter "A" generally makes three sounds, as in cat, make, and fawn.

But that pesky research cat is out of the bag, again.

Based on our most recent nationwide study of homeschool families and students (Endnote 1), we conducted more research focusing on Maine. The study focused on the academic achievement of the home-educated students and their families' demographics.

• The homeschool student achievement test scores are exceptionally high in this study in Maine. The mean scores for every subtest (74^th to 85^th percentile) are well above those of public school students (which is, on average, the 50^th percentile).
• The following factors were NOT related (i.e., correlated with) their test scores:

1. whether the parents knew the child's test scores before participating in the study,
2. whether the student has been home educated all his or her academic life,
3. whether the student is enrolled in a full-service curriculum,
4. student's gender,
5. amount of money spent on home education,
6. family income,
7. whether either parent had ever been a certified teacher,
8. parent education levels,
9. the number of children living at home,
10. degree of structure in the homeschooling,
11. amount of time student spends in structured learning, and
12. the age at which formal instruction of the student began.

In other words, no matter how one cuts it, these home-educated students are outperforming state-school students, on average [Endnote 2]. This is pretty amazing.

It seems to be getting harder and harder for the public-school teachers and their unions to convince Americans that they are a necessary part of the lives of 87% of the nation's children. [Endnote 3]

I look forward to your comments.

Brian D. Ray, Ph.D.

P.S. Please feel free to send us your questions about homeschooling and we will try to answer them in upcoming messages.

If you are interested in tangibly supporting our work reporting on professors at university schools of education, court decisions, doing research, collecting research, disseminating research, and helping homeschool families around the world, please see "Two ways to help" below.

1. Send a check to: NHERI, PO Box 13939, Salem OR 97309 (using a check puts the largest percent of your gift to work at NHERI)

2. Click here http://nheri2010.org/ and then the "donate" button.

NHERI, PO Box 13939, Salem OR 97309, USA

Endnotes:

1. Ray, Brian D. (2010, February 3). Academic achievement and demographic traits of homeschool students: A nationwide study. Academic Leadership Journal, 8(1). Retrieved February 10, 2010 from http://www.academicleadership.org/emprical_research/Academic_Achievement_and_Demographic_Traits_of_Homeschool_Students_A_Nationwide_Study.shtml.

2. The complete report, with methods, findings, caveats and limitations, and more, can be read in the following: Ray, Brian D. (2010, September 25). Homeschooling across Maine: Academic achievement and demographic characteristics. Salem, OR: National Home Education Research Institute.

3. Wall Street Journal. (2011, February 18). Athens in Mad Town: A seminal showdown between public unions and taxpayers. Retrieved 2/18/2011 from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704657704576150111817428004.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop.