IALA » Homeschooling

Research on School Choice

Wayne Jennings — Thu, 02 Dec 2010 21:59:04 +0000

The National Center on School Choice conducts scholarly research on school choice including such topics as: charter schools, magnet schools, voucher programs, private schools and inter/intra distict choice. The center located at Vanderbilt University is funded ($13.5 million) by the USDE Institute of Education Sciences since 2004 with partners among others at Brown, Harvard, Indiana, Notre Dame and Stanford universities. They have conducted numerous studies regarding choice about staff, programs, parents and programs. They have published numerous books, research reports with a range of studies underway. Much of this info is downloadable.

From their site: Options basically fall into two categories. First are schools of choice, all schools that aren’t regular public schools—magnet, private, charter, homeschools. In the U.S., there are about 133,000 schools; of those, about 40,000, or one third, are schools of choice. Second are choice programs, like open enrollment, school transfer options, vouchers, and tax credits. Currently, 47 states have some kind of open enrollment policy; all 50 have the school transfer option under No Child Left Behind, 9 states offer public or privately-funded vouchers, and 7 states offer tax credits.

Homeschooling Sharp Increase

admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:14:58 +0000

The percentage of the school-age population that was home-schooled showed a significant increase from 2.2% in 2003 to 2.9% in 2007 according to a U.S. Department of Education report. The number of home-schooled kids hit 1.5 million in 2007, up 36% since 2003. The report identified seven reasons parents give as their motivation for home-schooling their children.

Status of Choices in the U.S.

Wayne Jennings — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 21:30:22 +0000

More options are becoming available to parents and students. The current run down of choices:

Charter laws: 40 states have adopted the charter concept. These vary from strong laws with a high degree of program autonomy to weak laws where the charter school has almost no power to decide anything.

Open enrollment: 42 states give some form of a choice for which school or school district to attend. Some of the statutes provide for voluntary participation by districts and some give the decision totally to the parent.

Vouchers: 6 states have voucher laws usually for a city within the state to have a student

Youth Councils as Change Agents

Wayne Jennings — Wed, 22 Aug 2007 17:41:59 +0000

Some feel education won’t change until the students demand it as they did during the 1960s sit-down strikes in some urban high schools to protest segregation. Much can be gained from involving youth in decisions about their education. Dana Bennis has been tracking youth participation in decisions. He writes: “In recent years several states and cities have created youth advisory councils – small groups of youth usually age 15-18 from across the region who come together to discuss policy and create recommendations (and in some cases even draft legislation) to present to legislators and/or governors/mayors. This offers a powerful way to give youth a voice (short of lowering the voting age, which is another issue many groups advocate). States that have youth advisory councils include: Arizona, Iowa, Louisiana, Maine, Nevada, New Hampshire, Washington.”

Related organizations include: National Youth Rights Association, theWhat Kids Can Do (published a booklet on The Schools We Need), the English Secondary Students Association, the National Youth Leadership Council, and Student Voices project of Education Evolving.

In related news, I just finished reading The Euridem Project: A Review of Pupil Democracy in Europe by Lynn Davies and Gordon Kirkpatrick of the U of Birmingham. The report is in association with the Children’s Rights Alliance for England. Children in Denmark, Holland, Sweden and Germany are well ahead of English children in legal requirements on schools to involve children in a wide range of decision-making committees; participation by children in the development of curriculum and teaching methods; pupil representation on local, regional and national education committees; and, funding and support for national unions of school students.

Also related is the work of Drs. Raymond Moore (recently deceased) and Dorothy Moore who over many articles and books counseled educators and parents to delay instruction until the child exhibited readiness to learn. They encouraged following the child’s natural interests and pace for learning. Their recommended formula for learning in The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook is 30-180 minutes of study, 30-180 minutes of real work and additional time in service to others.

Significant Choice Information and Reports

Wayne Jennings — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 16:47:49 +0000

The National Center for the Study of Privatization in Education at Teachers College, Columbia University is a repository of useful information and research reports on the subjects of privatization, charter schools, vouchers, choice, homeschooling, etc. They provide crisp definitions and background briefing on these topics plus 133 (and counting) research reports. For example, the two recent reports discuss how parents make choices and school choices among public, private, or homeschooling.

They also include Policy Briefings, Book Reviews, FAQs, Hot Topics and other helpful information. This is a valuable resource you will want to bookmark.

Statistics on Educational Choices

Wayne Jennings — Mon, 04 Dec 2006 02:23:20 +0000

The recently released The Condition of Education by the Institute of Education Sciences (USDE) provides a wealth of authoritative data on preschool, elementary, secondary and higher education. Here are some interesting figures on educational alternatives from this readable report:

-10,900 alternative schools and programs serve 613,000 at-risk students, about 1.3% of all public school students. 80% of school districts in the South have at risk alternative programs but it’s only 28% in the central section of the US.

-27 % of students attend a school of choice where there is a choice of public programs–about 50% of districts provide for choices. Another 24% of parents exercise their own program of choice by moving to a preferred school or program.

-The total enrollment of nonpublic school students has dropped 1% in the past decade to 9.7% of all students.

-Homeschooled students, about 2.2% of all students increased to 1.1 million from 850,000 in the most recent four-year period.

Unschooling Versus Homeschooling

Wayne Jennings — Tue, 28 Nov 2006 17:55:13 +0000

Homeschooling usually falls into two categories:

-Children taught by their parents at home because of fundamental value differences such as religious views.

-Children taught by their parents at home because of educational differences, often progressive views about learning.

A third category, unschooling, refers to children kept home without formal teaching by the parents. The children simply explore areas of interest without pre-determined lessons or expected outcomes because the parents reject conventional schooling methods as interfering with the child’s natural learning capacities. A New York Times article describes the process has “child-led learning.” Another article, “Unschooling Stresses Curiousity More Than Traditional Academics” appeared in Education Week.

Another article from an unschooling family that maintains a blog: http://lifewithoutschool.typepad.com/lifewithoutschool/2007/01/life_with_out_a.html

Another legal choice in the panoply of educational options!

Jerry Mintz had a letter to the editor published in the New York Times published 11-28-06 on the subject as follows:
To the Editor:

The

2006 Homeschooling Report

Wayne Jennings — Sat, 22 Apr 2006 23:20:08 +0000

The latest survey, Homeschooling in the U.S., 2003, published in February, 2006 by the National Center for Education Statistics shows race, income and parental educational attainment of homeschooling families. It compares homeschoolers with students in public and private schools and changes between the former study in 1999. The number of homeschool students grew from 850,000 or 1.7% in 1999 of the school-age population to 1,100,000 or 2.2% in 2003, a 29% increase. The percentage of homeshooled White students exceeded Black and Hispanic students.

Parents were asked which one of the applicable reasons they considered to be their most important reason for homeschooling

Personalized Education

Wayne Jennings — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 15:39:34 +0000

Personalized Education Now advocates student managed learning, a shift from dependency to independence, use of an educational landscape of opportunities, and other advanced concepts. Their 2 newsletters and 2 journals provide lively paradigm shifting items to advocate for learner-centered, learner-directed and democratic programs. A related organization Education Heretics Press offers well-received but radical books including Natural Learning and the Natural Curriculum, Comparing Learning Systems and items on home schooling. Probably no one does a better job of documenting the harsh reality of traditional practices on the human spirit and learning.

They provide descriptions of new approaches to learning, vision statements, principles, alternatives to schools, critiques on testing, book reviews, upcoming conferences and more. Janet and Roland Meighan of Bramcote Hills, Nottingham, England and the board of trustees provide an excellent international resource and are highly recommended sources for serious critics of traditional practices.

Radical Alternative: Unschooling

Wayne Jennings — Thu, 19 Jan 2006 02:37:34 +0000

Perhaps the most radical way to consider educational alternatives is to see school as an alternative to learning. This view is shared by some homeschoolers. Ivan Illich and Everett Reimer promoted “Deschooling” along with many others. Googling “deschooling” or “unschooling” brings up a considerable range of references and links. Unschooling, termed by John Holt is described in an article about an unschooled 10 year old. For insights into the logic of unschooling read the attachment by Kelly Lovejoy who thoughtfully describes the concept from the standpoint of her own children and other examples.

The 2006 Live and Learn Unschool Conference will be held in Albuquerque, NM

Black Alliance for Educational Options

Wayne Jennings — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 19:13:40 +0000

The Black Alliance for Educational Options (BAEO) strives to ensure that quality educational alternatives are available to Black families. Their web site contains definitions and other information on the many types of parental choices now present in schools including the following:

-Charter Schools
-Home Schooling
-Innovations in Traditional Public Schools
-Privately Financed Scholarships
-Public School Contracts with Private Organizations
-Supplementary Education Programs
-Tax-Supported Scholarships (Vouchers)
-Tuition Tax Credits and Deductions
-School Choice Glossary

BAEO leads the fight to empower parents, particularly low income parents, to choose educational programs that help their children succeed.

Virtual Schools Study

Wayne Jennings — Sat, 19 Mar 2005 17:53:00 +0000

A thorough study of funding and regulations of online (virtual) schools in Washington enlightens the subject about such topics as:

Requirements for teacher contact
Amount of funding and fiscal impact
Record keeping
Public policy and support
Defining online learning
Homeschooling impact

This carefully conducted and well-written report found that both “high” and “low” achieving students use online courses and programs and makes recommendations for their continuance.

District Choices

Wayne Jennings — Sat, 11 Dec 2004 20:31:34 +0000

More often these days, school districts offer a variety of choices. This might be to meet the growing competition for students from charter schools, nonpublic schools and homeschooling, all of which have eaten into district enrollments. Other reasons for offering choices include catering to student interests or ways of learning and to provide for a greater diversity of students. Choices include schools with special themes such as science, technology, health careers, arts, open education. Here are a few examples of how districts offer, in some cases, a blizzard of choices: Saint Paul Public Schools with 30 choices; Seattle Public Schools; some 27 Small Learning Communities in the Minneapolis Public Schools; Kansas City Public Schools (MO) with 30 magnet schools; About 30 choices in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools.

Homeschooling Increasing

Wayne Jennings — Sat, 11 Dec 2004 20:22:08 +0000

Evidence of increased homeschooling comes from several sources with parents expressing a greater variety of interests. About 30 percent object to conventional school environments, about 30 want a values or religious tone, about 15 percent want a different academic focus, about 7 percent want their child’s particular interest served. An article in the St. Louis Post Dispatch describes these factors. Authoritive information on homeschooling can be found on the U.S. Dept. of Education. The Parent-Directed Education website has a wealth of information and links.

Homeschooling as a Learning Alternative

Wayne Jennings — Fri, 11 Jun 2004 16:06:15 +0000

Home schooling, as a learning alternative, has grown rapidly over the past two decades. The US Department of Education estimates approximately one million students being homeschooled– about 2% of the public education base. Homeschooling is usually divided into two broad categories: religious-values based and progressive education. These differ considerably with the religious based emphasizing more traditional school content and methods. The progressive group is more child-centered and student-directed, sometimes bordering on unschooling. For an example of the second group, the Minnesota Homeschooling Alliance’s web site contains a vast array of information. For an example of the more traditional see the Minnesota Association of Christian Home Educators.

Homeschooling took off in the U.S. when Life magazine published a story of an entirely homeschooled student accepted at Harvard, as were his two brothers. This story is captured splendidly in the parent authored book, Homeschooling for Excellence by David and Micki Colfax.