Hello all. Since I told everyone I would post the outcome of the NAEP's latest statistics of Homeschooling/Private Student's testing scores vs. Public School's testing scores...here they are. The scores are based on the normal attribute of the 4th and 8th grade respectively. There is no formal testing scores or achievement ratings for grades under 4th, at least not from the NAEP. And may I add...the ratio is spreading, which is a massive vote of confidence for us HS Parents (or "Educators")! Mathematics: Grade 4...in 2007, HS-ing students has tested higher than in any other year. Increase of 6% since 2005 and is still 9% higher than the PS System. Grade 8...increase of 1% since 2005 and is now 13% higher than the PS System. Reading: Grade 4...HS-ing Students scored the same as in 2005, with an 18% higher standard over the PS System. Grade 8...DOWN 2% since 2005, but HS-ing Students still test 19% better than PS Students. Guess we better not slack on the reading bit once our young ones reaches the ripe old age of 12-13!! Writing: Grade 4...1% higher over 2005. HS-ing Students scores are at an average of 94% as compared to the PS Students at 85%, based on the 100% evaluation standard. Grade 8...4% higher over 2005. HS-ing Students scores are at an average of 95% as compared to the PS Students at 84%, again based on the 100% evaluation standard. I have the other stats as well, covering Science, History, Geography and Civics...didn't post them for most of you wanted to see the Big 3! I will put them in here if anyone would like to see them. And, yes...I included in the HS-ing stats, the Religion-based HS-ing scores as well. I do hope everyone is doing well. HunyChikn is doing an outstanding job with our 2...of course I am biased...but it is true. Please let me know if anyone has any questions on these stats. Pretty much speak about themselves, and to the wonderful job that the HS-ing System is having on the Education world. Best to all. Dr. Russ
Dr. Russ....do the numbers factor in the growth of the numbers of HS? I'm just curious. I've "heard" that it's growing in leaps and bounds...but wasn't sure how that effects the testing scores etc. How many students from each camp used for the basis of the test or is it ALL HS students/ALL PS students, etc. Do numbers show at all the comparison of private schooled kids too? Again, just curious. THANKS.
Someone in a parenting group I'm in had posted an article about homeschooled students vs ps. http://www.fraserinstitute.ca/commerce.web/newsrelease.aspx?nID= 4933 All very interesting of course. I just did a spelling assessment on dd this morning. She's jumped 2 grade levels since I did the assessment about 8 months ago.
Homeschooling is going crazy right now... We have 19 NEW homeschoolers in our group this year. We always start with a lower number and grow over the year....whew!!! 2004 - ended with 15 2005 - ended with 16 2006 - started with 16 ended with 25 2007 - as of Oct 10th we already have 19 Homeschool is on the rise. Now...keep in mind you guys that we live in a twin city with a population of about 175,000. We estimate there are about 400 homeschooling families in our area and growing.
I have no idea how many homeschoolers are in this area. I know there are A LOT though. At gymnastics yesterday there was a mom there with her older daughter who was in 5th grade. Her backpack was FULL and she said she did about 3 hours of homework every night. THat is INSANE!!!! I did 3 hours of homework in highschool and I had AP classes! The mom said "it's almost enough to make me homeschool but I can't imagine doing THAT, when would I have time for myself?" I had to snicker under my breath but I didn't make a comment lol.
Those are very promising numbers. I wonder how the hs stand against the rest of the world in education. I think just about anybody can beat the socks off of the ps results.
kbabe1968...Yes, the results of the surveys do incorporate the growth of the HS System, mostly due to the fact that the survey from NAEP, the National Assessment of Educational Progress, performs surveys on these matters every 2-3 years. Granted, the surveys and stats sent in from the Department of Education to NAEP can't cover every possible HS Student in the US, but it does take into effect, the number of state-wide testing scores throughout the US for HS-ing and PS Students. With the increased number of testing results applied in the surveys, the ending ratio statistic does include the growth numbers for both HS-ing and PS Students. Since 2001, IES, the Institute of Education Sciences, a segment of the Department of Education, has seen a rise in HS-ing by over 21%, and according to the latest results that I gabbed about in the earlier post, the increase of HS-ing Students will continue to rise. And yes again, inside these stats that are reported to the Dept. of Ed., private, catholic, HS and PS Student's testing results are included. Actually, the graph that I have shows each one, broken down by pretty colors!! But, I can't add that to the post...sniff. Hope this answers your questions well enough. Personally, I don't think there has ever been a survey invented that can completely identify the actual result of the subject matter in question...it would have to include ALL personnel, or whatever is being looked at, and we all know that this is just not possible. Even the census bureau states that their results have a 2% error margin, and since we are talking a number that includes millions, 2% would be a major number. Now in 2003, NHES, National Household Education Survey, concluded that they estimated 1,096,000 children were homeschooled, which is about 2.2% of the school-aged children to be educated in the U.S. (up from 1.9%, 850,000 calculated in the spring of 1999) that is in the age ranges from 5-17. Only point I was making, when I got off track (sorry), was that the error margin for HS-ing vs PS evaluation results are quite minimal for the numbers involved. For we aren't talking census bureau numbers here!! It is all important though. Ultimately, we as HS-ing "officianados"...a little bi-lingual gabbing there...are doing something right for other households are utilizing HS-ing education for their children more than ever, it is on the increase and the Department of Education sees this now, more than it did 10 years ago. Hope this helps! Dr. Russ
jillrn...You could go on the web site for the US Department of Education and sign up for a username and password, but even then, the actual briefing slides are not visible. The only items that you would be able to see is stats that was inserted by one of the web masters for them. And I have no clue on who that would be, or who actually picks what info to put on the independent web sites for the public to view. You can get a bunch of info if you know where to look though. I can get a copy of some of the briefing slides and send them to ya if ya wish...just let me know. I had thought about building a webpage and putting a lot of boring, useless, good-for-nothing information on there for others to download and/or read. Dr. Russ
