House Education Committee
Hearing for HB 2560
Statement and Testimony on House Bill 2560 (home education law)1. Home educators in Pennsylvania and across the nation have consistently shown a remarkable record of success in the education of their children during the past 22 years. These successes are in academics, civic involvement, family life, and social, emotional, and psychological development. For example, homeschool students consistently score 15 to 30 percentile points higher on academic achievement tests than do their counterparts in public schools, on average.
before the
House Education Committee of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
June 13, 2002
by Brian D. Ray, Ph.D.
(biographical sketch attached)
2. Research on institutional schools (e.g., public schools) and their students consistently shows that one of the most important elements in a student’s success in learning and in school is parental involvement. Homeschooling represents the epitome of parental involvement. Pennsylvania homeschool parents, like homeschool parents all over the United States, have the best interests of their children in mind, and the government of Pennsylvania should do everything in its power to encourage and support such high levels of parental involvement.
3. Research that I have personally conducted (and research by others; see section below entitled “Some Research Facts”) shows no relationship between the degree of state control and regulation of homeschooling and homeschool students’ learning (i.e., academic achievement; see, especially, Ray, 1997, 2000, 2002). That is, research shows that there is not even a “correlation” evident in the data. There would at least need to be a correlation to even suggest a causative relationship, but there is none. For about 18 years, I have been doing basic research, publishing my research in refereed journals and at professional meetings, following the research of others, publishing a refereed research journal, and networking researchers all related to the topic of home-based education (i.e., homeschooling), and I know of no research that substantiates a positive relationship between government control of homeschooling and the learning of homeschool students.
4. Furthermore, and most interestingly related to the proposed legislation at hand, research by Dr. Jay P. Greene (2002) shows: “Academic achievement [in public schools] is positively correlated with educational freedom.” One of the elements in Greene’s education freedom variable is the regulatory environment for homeschooling. In other words, his research shows that the more educational freedom in a state, including less government control and regulation of homeschooling, the higher is academic achievement in public schools. His work suggests the possibility that giving homeschool parents more freedom would actually be related to an increase the academic achievement of public school students.
5. Professional standards of social science, educational, and psychological research and measurement and evaluation make it clear that neither researchers nor policymakers should use empirical relationships that are either absent or methodologically tenuous to maintain or create control over persons’ lives. In other words, research should present clear and compelling evidence of at least correlation and, more definitely, cause-and-effect, before policymakers use it to create or maintain regulations or law that control people. And, even if research shows correlation or causation, then ethics and philosophy must be considered before control is maintained or created.
6. All things considered, and especially since there is no positive (or objective, empirical, or research) proof that control and regulation by the government of home education has ever significantly increased children’s learning, it makes no sense to assume that such has been, is, or will ever be the case. In fact, due to the lack of correlational evidence, let alone cause-and-effect evidence, any person or group (e.g., state government, policymaker, private educational service provider, public school employee, parent ) who promotes the maintenance of or increase of control and regulation over home education bears a heavy burden of proof to verify that the state needs to continue to control and regulate home educators as it does now in Pennsylvania.
7. The more time that homeschool parents have to invest in their children’s lives (e.g., academic matters), the more successful their children will be and therefore the more the society of Pennsylvania will be benefited. State control and regulation of homeschooling (e.g., parents having to complete paperwork, testing of children, reporting to the government) takes time away from the teaching and training of children; it increases bureaucracy. This is bad for teaching and learning.
8. House Bill 2560 strengthens the message that the government respects the dignity of parents (Randall, 1994) by reducing government control of parents and their families.
9. I have been a teacher (and professor) in private schools, public schools, and public and private colleges and universities. I have been a professor of education – that is, teaching both prospective and in-service teachers. Anyone who has taught in public or private schools knows that these schools, especially public schools, have enough challenges and problems of their own (e.g., control, regulation, accountability, academic achievement, dropout rates, violence, political imbroglios, funding). Public schools and the state do not need to continue spending unnecessary time, energy, and taxes on educational matters that are private and outside the purview of the taxpayer’s interests.
If the research were to be done, I predict it would be found that the more control and oversight of home education by the government, the more the Pennsylvania taxpayer has to spend on education. Government regulation and control of homeschooling is expensive. Homeschoolers are not asking for taxpayers’ money nor control and regulation by the government. Many public school personnel and agencies (e.g., in Oregon and in Maryland and, I assume, in other states) neither need nor want the extra burdens of trying to control, regulate, and fill out paperwork on homeschoolers; these students and families are not a part of the public (state) school system.
The government does not need to control homeschooling as it does now. The government can spend more time and money on the citizens’ public schools and the students in them if the government spends less time, taxes, and energy on regulating homeschool families. Increased time and money spent on Pennsylvania’s public schools will be in the best interest of the commonwealth’s public school students. Reducing government control and regulation of home education -- passage of House Bill 2560 -- will contribute to this.
Some Research Facts on the
State Regulation (Control) of Homeschooling and
Homeschool Students’ Academic Achievement
For the two cases given below, the following information is helpful:
State control (i.e., regulation) is the level of control at the time the study was done.
The three control (i.e., regulation) levels are defined in Ray (2002).
The numbers given are the percentiles on standardized academic achievement tests.
States are listed alphabetically within the control (regulation) category.
1. Several state-specific studies by several researchers (a rough synthesis)
High State Control
Maine – 71 (only non-approved private homeschoolers)
Massachusetts – 85
North Dakota – 84
Pennsylvania – 80 (only reading & math in one small-sample study)
Tennessee – 73
Washington – 66
Medium State Control
Alaska – 78 (only ADE students)
Alabama – 60
Florida – 72
Louisiana – 84
New Mexico – 85
Ohio – 84
Oregon – 75
Virginia – 89 (but only religious-exemption families)
Low State Control
Indiana – 86
Montana – 70
Oklahoma – 85
2. Nationwide study by Ray (1997, 2000)
High State Control States – 86
Medium State Control States – 85
Low State Control States – 86
3. Nationwide study by Greene (2002)
Dr. Greene found that the more educational freedom there is in a state, including less government control and regulation of homeschooling, the higher is academic achievement in public schools.
References
Greene, Jay P. (2002). 2001 Education Freedom Index. New York, NY: The Manhattan Institute for Policy Research. Retrieved 6/7/02 online http://www.manhattan-institute.org/html/cr_24.htm .
Randall, E. Vance. (1994). Private schools & public power: A case for pluralism. New York NY: Teachers College Press.
Ray, Brian D. (1997). Strengths of their own—Home schoolers across America: Academic achievement, family characteristics, and longitudinal traits . Salem, OR: National Home Education Research Institute.
Ray, Brian D. (2000). Home schooling: The ameliorator of negative influences on learning? Peabody Journal of Education, 75(1 & 2), 71-106.
Ray, Brian D. (2002). Worldwide guide to homeschooling. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman, Publ.
Biographical Sketch of Brian D. Ray, Ph.D.
June 2002
Brian D. Ray, Ph.D. is President of the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI), a nonprofit research and educational organization dedicated to serving home, private, and public educators by conducting research on home-based education, developing a network of researchers, and educating the worldwide public about homeschooling. He has conducted numerous studies on homeschooling, founded and serves as editor of the academic, refereed journal Home School Researcher, provided expert testimony before many courts and legislatures, and spoken widely at professional and homeschool conferences. He is frequently interviewed by the media (e.g., twice on the NBC Today Show). Dr. Ray earned his Ph.D. in science education from Oregon State University, has taught at the elementary school through graduate university levels in public and private schools, colleges, and universities, and has published many articles and books. He is author of the new book Worldwide Guide to Homeschooling , another entitled Strengths of Their OwnHome Schoolers Across America , a research report Home Schooling on the Threshold: A Survey of Research at the Dawn of the New Millennium , and co-author of the book Home Schooling: Parents as Educators.