“There is an irony that governments supporting school choices will cut objective data, which may help increase acceptance of homeschools,” Maranto said.
It is not clear what will happen to the unissued 2023 home school data or whether the Ministry of Education will collect home school statistics in the future.
In answering questions about the fate of homeschool data, Department of Education spokeswoman Madison Biedermann said its research unit, the Institute of Educational Sciences research unit, has the data and is “reviewing how best to use all of its contractual activities to meet its statistical obligations.” ”
Last September, the education department released some Preliminary statistics From the 2023 survey. It noted that the increase in traditional homeschooling has been small since 2019, but the number of students in online virtual schools has increased significantly, full-time learning. A total of more than 5% of students study at home in one of these two ways. Less than 4% of learning at home in 2019.
Researchers are eager to mine data to understand the different flavors of different educations from online courses to micro-teaching, which are often small schools that often operate in private residences or places of worship. Researchers also want to learn why more parents choose to homeschool, and the topics they teach their children directly, all of which are covered in Parental investigation Conducted by the education department.
It is well known that tracking homes to school is difficult. Families who choose this option may not trust the government, but this is one of the few surveys to record their number of people, and they recommend that the authors of the federal investigation ask questions about how to ask questions.
Starting from 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau has also begun collecting some Data about homeschoolbut these statistics cannot be directly compared with the data from the education department. Without historical records, the census data is not very useful. It is not clear whether this census data will continue. Some states collect data on homeschools, but researchers say they do so differently, which makes it impossible to compare homeschool studies in each state.
Patrick Wolf, a professor of education policy, studied the University of Arkansas school choices and was frustrated by the loss of statistics from the education department.
“A federal government agency has been collecting national statistics on education since 1867,” he said. “If national and local policy makers and practitioners do not have good data on federal public education, private schools and home schools, they will be seriously challenged in completing the work. If the federal government continues to collect and publish comprehensive data on schools, it is good to send education rights to the state.
Contact the worker Jill Barshay at 212-678-3595, jillbarshay.35 on signal or barshay@hechingerreport.org.
This About Homeschool Statistics Written by Jill Barshay by Hechinger Reporta nonprofit, independent news organization focuses on inequality and innovation in education. register Proof point There are others Hechinger Communications.
