Hello, , from NHERI.

Autumn is my favorite season. Here in Salem, Oregon, USA, precisely half way between the equator and the north pole, we have a definite change in weather, floral colors, and faunal behavior. Orange and reds are showing through on leaves, while deer, elk, bear, cougar, coyotes, rabbits, and other mammals are clearly changing what they do and how they move. It is exhilarating.

Sometimes, however, the activities and effects of a research institute or think tank are not as easily noticeable. In that vein, I would like to tell you about one concrete example of how NHERI is having often subtle but significant impacts on our culture. This account is not flashy but it will give you a solid idea of the value of NHERI's work. Following is the abbreviated story.

I am on a homeschool leaders e-mail list where they were recently discussing public-school-at-home programs. Examples of these would be online schools, virtual academies, or distance programs, paid by the taxpayers. Essentially, students spend most of their "school time" at home, under the authority of the State, using State-approved curriculum and following State demands, while their parents are managing their daily daytime school lives as unpaid teachers for the State. This is not homeschooling. It is government school at home.

One state homeschool leader referenced the very-recent Evaluation Report: K-12 Online Learning by the Office of the Legislative Auditor of the State of Minnesota that purposed to determine to what extent students in these State-run programs are actually learning. [Endnote 1] In their review of literature and research addressing the "social skills" of online students, the authors of the report heavily relied on research on homeschool students. They authors wrote the following:

Also like online learning, critics of home schooling have voiced concerns about student isolation and the lack of opportunities for socialization. Research suggests, however, that the socialization experienced by home-schooled children is "equal, and in some cases superior, to that of children who attend conventional schools."²¹ (p. 42)

Those little superscript footnote numbers interest researchers like me, so I dug in further. To what studies were they referring?

Footnote 21 referenced a report on the "evaluation of the social skills of full-time, online public school students" published in New York. [Endnote 2] The authors of this report wrote a section entitled, "Socialization in the Absence of Face-to-Face Contact: Results from Home-Schooling Research." Yes, the implication seems to be that students who are not in institutional group schooling systems with same-age peers all day do not have "face-to-face contact" with other children, or maybe even adults. Research shows this is not true, and that home-educated children typically regularly interact with a wide variety of people of a variety of ages. Regardless, the authors' review of research on the social development of home-educated students was quite balanced and accurate. They concluded:

 Conventional schooling has traditionally been viewed as a primary vehicle for socialization of children. This perception has resulted in concerns that children who do not receive conventional schooling may lack adequate opportunities to develop their social skills. Despite these concerns, most of the limited [Endnote 3] research on children who have been home-schooled has found that these children's socialization is equal, and in some cases superior, to that of children who attend conventional schools. (p. 6)

Now here is a main point I would like to make for supporters of NHERI. Many of the research references in this report - the key reference on socialization in the Minnesota report - are to studies published in the academic journal Home School Researcher (HSR) that NHERI publishes and was founded 26 years ago, or to research that NHERI has conducted.

Researchers are consistently finding positive things about homeschooling. Many of them are publishing their work in our journal, HSR. Many of them are referring to work by NHERI or research published in HSR. Policy makers are reading these studies and reports. The public is consistently getting the truth about parent-led home-based education. The public and policy makers are being influenced by this research and the work of NHERI.

You may be a reader who thinks that research and the publication and effects of research are value-free. You should think again. Consider the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association in New Orleans in April 2011 (that I attended) and the following paper presented there - Imagining Heteronormative Classrooms as Otherwise: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Intersex (LGBTI) Adults and Their Early Childhood Experiences. [Endnote 4] Do you think the four academic authors' theoretical framework were value-free and without an underlying worldview? There is about a zero chance of that. Do you think the effect their paper has on readers, the public, and policymakers is neutral or value-free? There is about a zero chance of that, too.

If you would like to see the research and impact of NHERI's research grow, you could do two things. You could pray for the work of NHERI. Also, you could support NHERI's work with something tangible like a donation (and see below how to do so).

If you have any suggestions, please let me know.

Thank you for your interest, time, and support.

Brian D. Ray, Ph.D.

P.S. There are two ways to tangibly help us:

  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

Notes:

1. Vos, Jo;  Delacueva, Sarah; Jacobson, Dan; & Kirchner, David. (2011, September). Evaluation report: K-12 online learning. St. Paul, MN: Office of the Legislative Auditor, State of Minnesota.

2. Sivin-Kachala, Jay; & Bialo, Ellen. (2009, May). IESD comprehensive technical report, evaluation of the social skills of full-time, online public school students. New York, NY: Interactive Educational Systems Design, Inc. Retrieved October 5, 2011 from http://jhauge.tie.wikispaces.net/file/view/IESD-Socialization-Study-May-2009.pdf.

3. I am not sure why the authors used the adjective "limited" in "limited research" but the fact is that there is now a substantive body of research on the social, emotional, and psychological development of the home educated and the findings about these children, youth, and adults are quite positive.

4. Iorio, Jean Mari; Reilly, Andrew; Yancura, Loriena; & Onesta, John Patrick. (2011). Imagining Heteronormative Classrooms as Otherwise: Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgendered, and Intersex (LGBTI) Adults and Their Early Childhood Experiences. A paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association, Session 34.055, April 8-12, 2011, New Orleans, Louisiana.