Are Homeschoolers Prepared for College Calculus?

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Abstract

The researchers present findings from the Factors Influencing College Success in Mathematics (FICSMath) survey, a national study of 10,492 students enrolled in tertiary calculus. The database included 190 students who were homeschooled for a majority of their high school years. Compared with students who received other types of secondary schooling, the home educated: (a) were demographically similar to their peers, (b) earned similar SAT Math scores, and (c) earned higher tertiary calculus grades.

Keywords: public school, private school, institutional school, homeschool, homeschooling, home schooling, home education, SAT math scores, college tertiary grades, calculus

   For more scholarly research on homeschooling, visit www.nheri.org

The Context

Homeschooling continues to grow while the general public, policymakers, professional educators, and parents observe the success of the home educated. Several negative critics – and some genuine researchers – have claimed that research does not indicate that homeschool students are doing well mathematically. This study, “Are homeschoolers prepared for college calculus?,” by scholars Wilkens, Wade, Sonnert, and Sadler, provides empirical evidence and findings about that area of doubt.[1]

Conceptual Framework and Methods

The authors point out that in-depth data and statistics on the relative success of the home educated in college mathematics is sparse. They found a database that would help fill in some of the lack in this area. They intended “… to make a contribution to knowledge about the preparation of homeschoolers for—and success in—tertiary calculus courses” (p. 33). Tertiary calculus is defined as the first single variable calculus course taken at the college level. They analyze data from the 2009–2010 Factors Influencing College Success in Mathematics (FICSMath) survey, a nationally representative study of 10,492 students who completed the FICSMath survey at the beginning of their tertiary calculus course. In this sample, 190 students had been homeschooled most of their secondary years.

The researchers addressed the following questions: “Among college calculus students, to what extent do homeschoolers differ from their nonhomeschooled peers in (a) demographic and socioeconomic background characteristics, (b) secondary mathematics preparation, and (c) performance in tertiary calculus?” (p. 34).

Findings

Wilkens and his colleagues found that the vast majority (86.0%) of students who completed the FICSMath survey attended public high schools. Some 6.7% attended private parochial schools, 3.7% private non-parochial schools, 2.1% homeschool, and 0.8% public charter schools.

The survey asked the college students about the “degree to which [the] home environment was supportive of math.” The home educated reported more support than the students in the other four groups. A nonparametric statistical test indicated that differences among the groups were significant.

The researchers also compared the college-bound SAT scores of the five groups. There was a significant difference between only two of the groups; the homeschool students’ scores were not different from any of the other groups.

Next, the investigators looked at final course grades for single-variable college calculus by high school type. Here is what they found:

       Among first-time coursetakers, students who attended public, [public] charter, and private schools during high school earned similar final grades in college calculus. Students who homeschooled during high school, however, earned significantly higher grades than students who attended traditional public schools (α = 0.05). Even though the homeschoolers had the highest average grade, their advantage over students from school types other than public schools did not reach significance. This may be due in part to the relatively low numbers in this school type—and accordingly low statistical power. (p. 40-41)

Finally, Wilkens and his co-researchers used regression models to control for various factors and to predict student performance in tertiary calculus from school type. All predictors discussed in their article (school type, gender, race, ethnicity, home language, parental education, home support for mathematics, and SAT/ACT math scores) were included in their initial multivariate model. A final reduced model was generated wherein nonsignificant predictors were deleted. “The final model included four of the predictors identified in the initial model (homeschool status, gender, home support for mathematics, and SAT/ACT mathematics score)” (p. 41-42); no other school type was in the final model.

Concluding Thoughts

The researchers were skilled and careful in explaining the limitations of their study. Then they went on to some final conclusions. Here is what they wrote:

       Our main interest in this article was the path of students by high school type—particularly those students who reported homeschooling. Homeschooling demonstrated significance as a predictor and is included in the final model (no other school type demonstrated significance), and the magnitude of the effect of homeschooling (versus not) appears to be considerable. A predicted final college calculus score gain of more than 5 points, or roughly half a grade, is certainly meaningful for students and worth consideration in future work.

Wilkens and his colleagues finish up their report by saying that much work remains to be done in the area of how the home educated perform in mathematics, and college mathematics in particular.

     For example, Why do the students who homeschooled earn higher average college calculus grades than others? Is this due to the impact of homeschooling as a treatment during the high school years? ….. Selection effects into or out of college calculus? Is in-school learning so bad that homeschoolers benefit from staying away? (p. 45)

Clearly, the door is open for more intriguing research into the success – or not – of the home educated in the world of adulthood. This study, regarding college calculus, once again suggests that homeschooling is associated with positive results in many aspects of adult life.[2]

​​​​​​​--Brian D. Ray, Ph.D.

National Home Education Research Institute

www.nheri.org

  This article is publicly available at NHERI.

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