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On the third Tuesday of each month we post a quick roundup of some recent academic publications and news about homeschooling, offered for your interest. These are typically university research papers, and they may have a positive, negative, or neutral outlook on home education. The title links generally point to the full text of each publication, which is often a printable pdf file. In some cases, a paid subscription may be required to read the whole article. The article abstracts or introductions below are quoted in full whenever possible, without editing.
We have four items this month. The first three address homeschooling in the Czech Republic; Christian homeschooling in Britain; and government regulation of homeschooling. The fourth item is the introduction to a substantial collection of homeschooling papers in the Journal of School Choice, papers that cover a wide range of different homeschool topics, many of them relating to research and government policy.
(1) Homeschooling as an Extension of School Choice in the Czech Republic After the COVID-19 Pandemic? — Y. Kostelecká et al. (2024)
Abstract: The aim of the study was to examine the homeschooling and its recent development in Czechia as part of the school choice debate. The study analyses the different attitudes towards homeschooling among different groups within the Czech population and the underlying demographic, socio-economic, and ideological factors that may be behind these differences, as well as analysing the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on this form of education in Czech society. The analysis of the nationally representative data shows that public support for homeschooling increased significantly after the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching its highest level in 2023. We found that the typical supporter of homeschooling tends to be a younger, highly educated person who lives in the large city or in its suburbs, is committed to democratic and liberal principles, is critical of totalitarian systems, and sees the legal possibility of homeschooling as an extension of the existing school choice.
(2) Whose Children Are They? Using Kymlicka on Multiculturalism to Evaluate Rights and Freedom in Christian Home Education — H. Pattison & S. Holmes (2024)
Abstract: This paper considers the so far unresearched position of Christian home education in England and, specifically, the implications of the proposed English Schools Bill (2022) for this minority religious group. We consider the case for external protection of their practices, as well as charges of internal restriction within the context of largely unregulated home education. Quantitative and qualitative survey data from 462 Christian home educators is analysed to elucidate the minority positioning of the group before considering whether sufficient opportunities exist within the proffered education to proselytise, question and reject the faith if desired. We conclude that Christian home educators in the UK constitute a minority group in need of political recognition to continue in the educational aspects of their faith. We also conclude that whilst, in this data set, internal restrictions are not evident, Christian home education is not homogenous. We argue that opportunities for heresy and apostasy need to be clearly open to children being educated at home for religious reasons but argue that further research and a theoretical framing of ongoing public debate, rather than recourse to law, constitute a way forward more likely to protect pluralism and minority freedoms.
(3) Raising the Bar for Parental Choice: Establishing and Improving Regulations for Homeschooling — M. Tylenda (2023)
Abstract: Homeschooling, a part of American education for decades, has seen a resurgence in popularity in recent years likely due to the pandemic, safety concerns, and religious objectives. Like public and private education, homeschool regulation is largely a state matter. But, unlike the regulation of public and private education, the regulation of homeschooling is wildly inconsistent across the United States. In some instances, a regulation may not require parents to notify their school districts of their intent to homeschool or require any subjects to be taught. Scholars have drastically different viewpoints on the state of homeschooling, with some, such as Elizabeth Bartholet, arguing that the harms—potential for child abuse and the large influence of religion juxtaposed with the educational subject matter—justify an outright ban on the practice, while others encourage its continuance due to the overwhelming importance of parental infuence throughout the history of American education. Existing literature on the topic does not find a middle ground between these two strong viewpoints.
A middle ground may be one in which parents may homeschool their children and have an infuence on what they learn but with significantly more regulation. Additional regulatory measures can better ensure that parents may still guide the education of their children while also ensuring that children are gaining an adequate education in safe conditions. Despite the current designation of regulation to the states, the U.S. Department of Education would be an excellent entity to regulate homeschooling and determine more thoroughly how to achieve a middle ground, and this can be done by looking to successful state regulations. This Article contributes to the debate surrounding the continuance and regulation of homeschooling as a practice while expanding on current literature by providing a compromise to bridge the two common arguments for and against homeschooling in hopes of providing a path forward and ensuring homeschooled children receive an adequate education as homeschooling inevitably continues to grow as an option for education.
(4) Academic Research on Modern Homeschooling in America — A.R. Watson (2024)
Abstract: Homeschooling is growing and diversifying in the United States (Bjorklund-Young & Watson, 2024; Smith & Watson, 2024b; Watson, 2024a this volume). This special issue of the Journal of School Choice covers rigorous academic homeschooling research. It was born out of a desire to elevate the quality of homeschool research and conversation, and ultimately inform evidence-driven policy and practice that best serves the needs of all children, including those in homeschooling. A common critique of existing homeschool literature is that it is not always rigorous and may be viewed as advocacy clothed as research (Bartholet, 2020). This volume addresses that challenge head-on with 16 academic research pieces from 26 authors and 13 academic institutions spanning a wide range of homeschool-related topics. Homeschool conversations are frequently polluted with an over-reliance on tired and often false stereotypes about what and who homeschooling is. These misunderstandings or misrepresentations lead to false narratives. False narratives generate flawed policies that serve no one well. Information and evidence from high-quality research is the remedy. A false narrative is difficult to spread when facts are readily available. This special issue is an effort toward not only generating much-needed evidence but disseminating that evidence widely through publication, presentation of these studies at academic conferences, and open access.
This issue represents an impressive collection of diverse authors from leading academic institutions, each presenting unique and multifaceted research on homeschooling. These authors span a variety of experience levels including students, junior academics, and the most senior of experts. Many are also homeschooling alumni or parents. Authors from Johns Hopkins University play a prominent role in this issue because it is home to the Homeschool Research Lab and Hub where I serve as director. All work in this issue, from qualitative to experimental, is of the highest quality and has been peer-reviewed by other academic experts.
The issue is divided loosely into three sections.
First, a collection of authors present evidence on homeschool growth, informing a better understanding of exactly who counts as a homeschooler. Homeschool participation increased during the pandemic and appears to not only have persisted but is on the rise once again, as I cover in the first paper (Watson, 2024b this volume). Homeschoolers appear to switch in and out of predominantly public schools (Cheng, 2024 this volume) and demographic characteristics predict a variety of behaviors and preferences adding important nuance to our understanding of homeschool practice (Cheng & Watson, 2024 this volume). Several authors leverage nationally representative surveys that capture homeschoolers and explore the promise of these types of surveys in the future homeschool research (Smith & Watson, 2024a; Shelton & Hitt, 2024 this volume).
The second section delves into the characteristics of homeschoolers (Bjorklund-Young & Watson, 2024 this volume) and why they choose this model of education for their families with a special focus on Black homeschool policy (Baker, 2024 this volume; Johnson, 2024 this volume) and practice, and some of the first empirical homeschool research concerning the quickly growing Hispanic/Latina homeschool community (Batts et al., 2024a, this volume). Other authors consider special groups such as those who homeschool for safety (Batts et al., 2024b, this volume), the intersection of gifted learners and homeschooling (Connelly-Sporing et al., 2024 this volume), and those who participate in homeschool adjacent models like hybrid schools (Thompson et al., 2024 this volume).
The last section considers the future role of homeschool research (Donnelly, 2024 this volume) with ideas on how we can leverage existing data to learn more (Valiente, 2024 this volume; Hamlin, 2024 this volume). Finally, the last piece is a summary from the recent 2024 Homeschool Policy Summit that captures current thinking on homeschool policy from diverse leaders and practitioners.
Now, more than ever, research evidence should inform evidence-based policy that best serves the needs of children, families, and communities. My hope is that the research from this issue helps elevate, inform, and influence future conversations about homeschooling in this country and beyond.
What interesting homeschool news and academic research have you come across this Cygnus Term? 🎓
❡ Explore more: If you’d like to investigate the academic literature on homeschooling more extensively, the best place to start is Google Scholar, the special academic search engine from Google. Just enter a search term or phrase of interest (“homeschool,” “unschooling,” “classical homeschooling,” “deschooling,” etc.), and Google Scholar will return a list of research publications that mention your topic. In addition, for research prior to 2020 in particular, see the comprehensive bibliographic essay by Kunzman & Gaither (2020), “Homeschooling: An Updated Comprehensive Survey of the Research.” 🔎
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