Time: Fri Sep 12 19:37:06 1997 by usr01.primenet.com (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id NAA25426; Fri, 12 Sep 1997 13:42:12 -0700 (MST) Date: Fri, 12 Sep 1997 13:42:01 -0700 To: (Recipient list suppressed) From: Paul Andrew Mitchell [address in tool bar] Subject: SLS: SAFAN NO. 701. Solid Evidence to Support Home Schooling >From: SafanNews@aol.com >Date: Fri, 12 Sep 1997 15:39:30 -0400 (EDT) >To: SafanNews@aol.com >Subject: SAFAN NO. 701. Solid Evidence to Support Home Schooling > > @@@@ > @ O O @ > @ ( > ) @ STOP ALL FEDERAL ABUSES NOW!!! > \ 0 / SAFAN Internet Newsletter, No. 701, Sept 12, 1997 > / \ > * >SOLID EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT HOME SCHOOLING >by Michael P. Farris (The Wall Street Journal, Wed., March 5, 1997) > >Secretary of Education Richard Riley has announced that this spring he >will host a national forum to bring "the nation's best teachers" together >to address our country's education challenges. If he is willing to break >through institutional prejudice, Mr. Riley will include a number of >homeschooling parents in his forum: A new study by the National Home >Education Research Institute again shows that home education is far >more successful that public education. > >Home-school students score significantly higher on standardized >achievement tests than their public-school counterparts do. While by >definition public school students average at the 50th percentile on >standardized tests, this nationwide study conducted by Brian Ray, >president of the National Home Education Research Institute, reveals >that home schoolers have average scores between the 80th and 87th >percentiles on every subtest (including reading, listening, language, >math, science, social studies and study skills). The average score on >the basic battery of skills is in the 85th percentile, while the average >complete battery score is in the 87th percentile -- a phenomenal 37- >percentile differential. > >And no one should think that home schooling is limited to a few former >hippies and fundamentalist Christians. There are 1.2 million school-age >children home schooled in America. This is more students than are >enrolled in New Jersey, the state with the 10th largest publicschool >enrollment. There are also more home schoolers nationally than there >are public school students in Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Montana, >North Dakota, South Dakota, Rhode Island, Vermont, and Wyoming >combined. > >Public-school defenders will undoubtedly chafe at our test scores, >arguing that public schools have more minority students than home >schools do. But the study quickly dispels the myth that minorities >cannot achieve as well as whites. > >Ethnic minorities make up 5% of home-school students, and home >schooled minorities and whites both score on average in the 87th >percentile on reading tests. In public schools, however, whites signifi- >cantly outpace minorities in reading scores (whites: 57th percentile; >blacks: 28th percentile; Hispanics: 28th percentile). In public schools, >the disparity in math scores is huge: 58th percentile for whites; 24th >percentile for blacks; and 29th percentile for Hispanics. Public school >officials have some explaining to do. Why is it that despite their constant >lip service to the goal of equal opportunity, public schools continue to >deliver abysmally low academic quality to minority students? Home >schoolers have broken out of the ugly, demeaning stereotype of racial >underachievement. > > Why can't government schools do the same? > >Whatever the reasons for the dilemma of public-education failure, they >don't include inadequate funding. For each home-school child, the >average schooling cost is $546 per year; the annual public-school per- >pupil expenditure is $5,325. Both figures exclude the capital costs of >the building in which each child is taught. > >"But what about socialization?" you ask. There is no need to fear that >home schoolers are isolated at home all day. Home-school children are >involved in an average of 5.2 outside activities -- including scouts, >ballet, church activities, sports and 4-H clubs -- each week; 98% are >involved in two or more outside functions on a weekly basis. > >The No. 1 political goal of home schoolers is quite modest. We just want >to be left alone. Those who believe that government regulation is >essential for success would do well to look at the cold, hard numbers >that prove otherwise. There is no significant statistical difference in >student test scores between those taught by a parent who is or has been >a certified teacher and those whose parents were never certified. And >there is no significant statistical difference in student test scores between >those taught by parents with a college degree and students taught by >those who have never attended college. In fact, students taught by >parents who have not finished high school score 30 percentiles higher >than students in the public schools. Students from state that highly >regulate home schooling score exactly the same as students from state >with little or no regulation. > >The success of the modern home-schooling movement can be >explained with a couple of old-fashioned concepts: Hard work and >parental involvement lead to the best individual academic achieve- >ment. But there is perhaps an even more fundamental reason. Home schooling, >by its nature, focuses on the individual child. Public-school reformers with >new ideas for "all children." Such programs, like the >federal government's Goals 2000, invariably lead to one-size-fits-all >ediocrity. Programs that allow each child to maximize his or her own >individual abilities lead to success. > >There is no reason that public schools cannot also adopt the "each >child" theory that underlies home education. No reason, that is, except >the politically difficult obstacles that the centralized bureaucrats pose >to parents and teachers. If Mr. Riley is serious about learning from >educational success, he'll find that the home is a pretty good place to >start looking. > >Mr. Farris is president of the Home School Legal Defense Association >of Purcellville, VA. > >Rod D. Martin >http://members.aol.com/roddmartin/vanguard.htm > <snip> ======================================================================== Paul Andrew Mitchell : Counselor at Law, federal witness B.A., Political Science, UCLA; M.S., Public Administration, U.C. Irvine tel: (520) 320-1514: machine; fax: (520) 320-1256: 24-hour/day-night email: [address in tool bar] : using Eudora Pro 3.0.3 on 586 CPU website: http://www.supremelaw.com : visit the Supreme Law Library now ship to: c/o 2509 N. Campbell, #1776 : this is free speech, at its best Tucson, Arizona state : state zone, not the federal zone Postal Zone 85719/tdc : USPS delays first class w/o this As agents of the Most High, we came here to establish justice. We shall not leave, until our mission is accomplished and justice reigns eternal. ======================================================================== [This text formatted on-screen in Courier 11, non-proportional spacing.]
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