Comparing Two Forms of Public Schooling: What Relevance to Homeschooling?

Published: Wed, 09/09/20

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Comparing Two Forms of Public Schooling: What Relevance to Homeschooling?

The Context

A recently published study compared the academic achievement of government-run public correspondence school students and government-run public conventional school students in Alaska (McCracken and Coleman, 2020). The reason that this study is being reviewed by an author and institute that focus on homeschooling (home education) is that the authors of the new study held that their findings tell us something about homeschooling. Do they?

To be specific, McCracken and Coleman studied government-run and tax-funded correspondence schools (i.e., “Alaska Statewide Correspondence Schools”; Alaska Department of Education and Early Development, 2020a). The researchers compared the academic success of Alaska students in public correspondence schools to those in “traditional” schools in Alaska. The authors did not, however, define “traditional” school, so readers will likely assume that it means conventional brick-and-mortar institutional public schools.

The first thing the reader should notice is that although the title of the article mentions homeschooling, it also tells the reader that this is a study about government-school students. The title is, “A meaningful measure of homeschool academic achievement: Statistical analysis of standardized test performance in Alaska public correspondence school.” It should be noted that there are several indications that this is not a study of homeschool students.

First, many statutes (laws) control these government correspondence schools that are termed and defined as “correspondence study programs” in Alaska law, and they are not called, termed, or defined as homeschooling (Alaska 2020b). For example, “… an individual learning plan for each student enrolled …” must be created every year and it must be developed with the assistance and approval of a government-certificated teacher, must be consistent with government-school standards, and must include government-controlled learning assessments of each child. If the student scores below a certain level, the learning plan must be modified. The laws also control what curriculum materials may be purchased with the government-dispersed tax dollars. Tax-funded state-certified teachers are involved. Textbooks for use in these public correspondence schools “… shall be selected by district boards for district schools.” “Partisan, sectarian, or denominational [religious] doctrines may not be advocated in a public school during the hours the school is in session.” In other words, the correspondence schooling of a child is directly, clearly, and comprehensively controlled by the state, with the “collaboration” of the parents.

The second thing to notice with respect to the McCraken and Coleman paper’s title is that some 40 years of the modern homeschool movement community and research on homeschooling have not considered government-controlled and tax-funded distance programs to be homeschooling. Researchers and scholars, since the early 1980s, have considered the key attributes of homeschooling to be that it is led or directed by the parents, home- or family-based, and generally a form of private education that does not rely on either state-run public schooling or institutional private schooling, on state-certified teachers, on government-approved curriculum, or on tax funding for the child’s education (Ray 2012). The scholarly and popular literature has defined and conceptualized homeschooling this way for over three decades (Lines 1987; Ray 2012; Van Galen 1987).[i]

The following definition accurately captures the meaning of modern-day homeschooling (or home education, as it is called in some countries):

Homeschooling is parent-directed, family-based education. Parent-directed means the parents have deliberately chosen to take responsibility for the education of their children, controlling both the education process and the curriculum (course of study). Family-based means the center of educational gravity is the home, with other resources being secondary. Parents may choose to partner with other homeschooling parents in cooperatives or support groups to provide portions of the education. They may also choose to have others assist in the education process (grandparents, tutors such as a music teacher, older siblings). (Homeschoolingbackgrounder.com, 2020)

Further regarding the definition of homeschooling, Williams (2003) provided a simple 2-dimensional diagram that explains “four types of education,” with one of them being private home education (homeschooling) (Figure). Consistent with the definitions above, Williams showed that the clearest form of homeschooling is home-based (or family-based) and is operated under private money and private control.

[ see Figure/diagram here ]

With the aforementioned in mind, McCracken and Coleman presented an analysis of standardized academic test performance in Alaska public correspondence and public conventional schools, but also reported that they had “… the purpose of contributing to the literature on the academic outcomes of homeschooling” (p. 191). This purpose of theirs will be considered later in this review.

The researchers never specifically stated this but their study is either a cross-sectional descriptive non-experimental study or a cross-sectional explanatory non-experimental study (Johnson, 2001); they imply that it is the latter. Designating the design is important to understanding and applying the findings.

See full review of this new study and how it does - or does not - relate to homeschooling here.

Thank you.

--Brian D. Ray, Ph.D.

National Home Education Research Institute

P.S. If you would like a free copy of my 2017 research article, please contact me at [email protected] and ask for “the JSC article.”

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