The CRHE Voice, Volume 2 Issue 11

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Volume 2, Issue 11 ✦ November 2016

Welcome to the CRHE Voice! This monthly newsletter will keep you up to date on what’s going on with the Coalition for Responsible Home Education, as well as letting you know about ways you can get involved with our mission of raising awareness of the need for homeschooling reform, providing public policy guidance, and advocating for responsible home education practices.

Inside this Issue:

- Legislative Spotlight:
U.S. Virgin Islands
- From The Mailbag
- New Testimonials
- Media Coverage
- Research Moment:
College Enrollment

CRHE By the Numbers

% of homeschooled incoming freshman at Harvard in 2014: 0.3

# of states that require standardized tests: 8

# of states with no assessment option: 25

# of states with required homeschool immunizations: 4

Donate!

Stereotypes applied to homeschoolers across the board do homeschooled kids a grave disservice.

A Note from the Executive Director

By Rachel Coleman

Nearly every month, we receive emails from parents asking for information about homeschooling. What does their state’s law require? What sorts of records do they need to keep to have down the road? What program or curricula do we recommend? Sometimes these emails portend many happy years of positive and child-centered homeschooling. Other times, however, they inspire some concern. How do we respond to these individuals?

We always answer factual questions factually, explaining what the law requires and the various steps that need taking to homeschool in a given state. We focus, though, on emphasizing the amount of responsibility involved in homeschooling. If the state offers little in the way of oversight (as is usual), we point out that there will be no one checking their work. We encourage good record keeping, and provide a link to our page on getting started homeschooling, which goes over much of this.

Going forward, we will also explain that we do not recommend homeschooling for parents who do not have a high school diploma or GED, and that we recommend continuing education for homeschool parents who have completed high school but do not have a college degree. Continuing education is important for any homeschool parent, as it is for teachers. Educating one’s children requires educating oneself, not only in in subject matter but also in in educational requirements, child development, and teaching methods.

Homeschooling is not easy, and it is not for everyone. It is our goal to ensure that every new homeschooling parent goes into it with their eyes open, with an awareness of what is required, and with an understanding of how they, too, may be stretched. Individuals considering homeschooling need solid information, not platitudes, and we aim to deliver.

- RC

Legislative Spotlight

Are you looking for a way you can make a difference? Here it is!

The U.S. Virgin Islands is considering legislation that would almost entirely deregulate homeschooling in the territory. Bill No. 31-0391 removes subject matter and annual assessment requirements, leaving homeschooled children in the Virgin Islands with little protection. The office of Senator Jean A. Forde contacted CRHE and invited us to testify on the bill before the Committee on Education and Workforce Development on October 3rd. We prepared written testimony and drafted recommended change s to the bill, and board member Kathryn Brightbill testified before the committee.

Many of the committee members were receptive to the message that homeschool children deserve protection and an education. Because of legislative scheduling, they voted to move the unamended bill out of the Committee on Education and Workforce Development to the Committee on Rules and Judiciary, with the understanding that the Committee on Rules and Judiciary would amend the bill to incorporate some of the issues that were raised by CRHE and the VI Commissioner of Education’s office in the October 3rd hearing.

The Committee on Rules and Judiciary has not yet scheduled a hearing on Bill No. 31-0391. You can email members of the Senate Committee on Rules and Judiciary in anticipation of this hearing to voice your support for amending Bill No. 31-0391 to incorporate CRHE’s suggestions and better protect the territory’s homeschooled children. These emails will be most powerful if they include references to your experience being homeschooled or being a homeschool parent. As you compose your email, you may find it helpful to read CRHE’s legislative testimony and proposed amendments.

Thank you for partnering with us to advocate for homeschooled children!

Committee on Rules and Judiciary

Chair: Senator Kenneth L. Gittens
senatorklgittens@gmail.com

Vice-Chair: Senator Janette Millin Young
jmyoung@legvi.org

Members: Senator Neville James
njames@legvi.org

Senator Novelle E. Francis, Jr. (Bill Sponsor)
nfrancis@legvi.org

Senator Jean A. Forde
jforde@legvi.org

Senator Justin Harrigan, Sr.
jharrigan@legvi.org

Senator Nereida “Nellie” Rivera-O’Reilly
teamnellie@gmail.com

From The Mailbag

This feature takes a look at one of many messages we receive from homeschooling parents or other individuals asking for information, help, or advice. Identifying details have been changed to protect anonymity. If you would like to contact us with your own questions, you can fill out our contact form.

“Does a homeschooled student have to follow the same requirements as the students get taught at a regular school? A student in public school has to be in school about 6 hours a day 5 days a week. Do homeschool students have to be schooled 6 hours a day 5 days a week?”

This is an excellent question!

As with most homeschool requirements, this varies by state (click here for a breakdown). Some states have specific instruction time requirements. Let's take Kansas, for example: homeschooling must take place "for a period of time which is substantially equivalent to the period of time public school is maintained," which is 186 days for not less than 6 hours per day. This instruction does not need to take place during the same hours school is in session, or during the same days. What homeschooling parents consider instruction may also vary -- many homeschooling parents count time spent on a variety of projects and activities as instructional time, provided they can be related to specific subjects of instruction.

Most states with instruction time requirements do little to ensure that these requirements are being met. Kansas’ homeschool policy is very hands-off, and homeschooling families are asked to demonstrate that they are meeting these requirements only if someone reports concerns about their homeschooling to the county attorney, the district superintendent, or the Kansas Department for Children and Families. These individuals may investigate to determine whether or not the required instruction is being provided. You can learn more about how this process works in each state here.

Homeschooling parents in states like Kansas should document their instruction time to ensure that they meet the requirements of their state's homeschool law. In Kansas, instruction must be planned and scheduled, and periodic testing must occur. Homeschooling parents should keep records of all of these things in case there is ever a question about whether their homeschool meets the state's legal requirements. This record keeping is also important to make sure that homeschooled children have the records they need when they either graduate from homeschooling or are enrolled in another school.

Please let us know if you have any further questions!

- The CRHE Team

New Testimonials

Alex H.: “I often wonder at what cost”
Sarah M.: “These assessments turned out to be easily avoided”

Click here to learn how to submit your own testimonial!

Media Coverage

Bill Kossler, Senate Panel Approves Bill to Loosen Home School Regulations, St. Croix Source, Oct. 4, 2016

Eleanor Skelton, My Homeschooled Friend Killed Himself, And His Family Wouldn’t Talk About It, Huffington Post, Oct. 5, 2016

Ernice Gilbert, Homeschooling Bill Clears First Hurdle, Virgin Islands Consortium, Oct. 5, 2016

Suzanne Carlson, Homeschool Bill Passes First Committee, Virgin Islands Daily News, Oct. 5, 2016

Research Moment: College Enrollment

This month, we’ve been working on some pieces about SAT scores and other predictors of college attendance. In doing so, we’ve been taking a look at homeschool college enrollment data. In 2011, the Cardus Education Survey found that homeschooled students whose mothers attended religious services at least weekly achieved less higher education than their peers who attended public or private schools. This study raises important questions about homeschooled students’ college attendance rates. As we have sifted through what data exists on this topic, we have grappled with a number of important questions.

While some colleges do not collect data on whether students were homeschooled, others do. Many colleges collect data on what kind of secondary institution each incoming freshman attended, and release that data as part of their freshman profile. This means that when we ask what percent of a college’s freshman class was homeschooled, we are really asking what percent of the class was homeschooled during high school.

What percent of colleges’ freshman class would we expect to be homeschooled? According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 3.4% of students in grades K-12 were homeschooled in 2011-2012; high school students were no less likely to be homeschooled than other students. This means that, all else equal, we would expect 3.4% of colleges’ incoming freshman in 2012, on average, to be listed as homeschooled for secondary school.

When we look at homeschool enrollment rates at colleges where that data is publicly available, we find a wide variation. A 2007 study found that 0.2% of incoming freshman at a mid-sized state university were homeschooled. This year, 12% of incoming freshmen at Grove City College, a small Christian college in Pennsylvania, were homeschooled. At Vassar College, a small nonsectarian liberal arts school, 0.8% of freshmen were homeschooled. At Messiah College, a small Christian college in Pennsylvania, 7% of incoming freshmen were homeschooled. In 2014, homeschool graduates made up 0.3% of Harvard’s incoming freshman class. With this level of variation, how can we determine an “average” rate?

One final consideration. Some homeschooled students may be taking community college classes and then transferring to a four-year institution. These students would count as transfer students and would not be listed as part of colleges’ freshman profile statistics. However, statistics from the few community colleges for which data is publicly available suggest that homeschooled students are not attending community college first and then transferring at substantially higher rates than other students, if at all. Our data points on community college attendance are fewer than those on college attendance, however, as community colleges do not generally release a freshman profile the way four-year colleges do.

More research on homeschool college enrollment is badly needed. A study that covered state universities, private colleges, and community colleges would provide a better picture of homeschool graduates’ college attendance rates. While some young people are choosing to forgo the higher costs of college attendance, college degrees are still required for a wide range of careers, including teaching, accounting, medicine, and much more.

Thanks for reading!

That’s all for now, but we’ll be working all month long on important homeschooling issues and research as they come up! If you have any questions or ideas for future issues, please feel free to contact us at info@responsiblehomeschooling.org.

To keep up with our latest news and updates, follow us on Twitter at @ResponsibleHS and like us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/ResponsibleHomeschooling.