Home schooling in the Show-me-State: a preliminary study of perceptions and academic performance

Abstract

[ACCESS RESTRICTED TO THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI AT AUTHOR'S REQUEST.] The purpose of this mixed methods case study was two-fold: first, in regards to home schooling, an exploratory study of analyzing educational policy and accountability second, the study will examine how home-school parents and public school officials perceive the current state of regulation for home school students. This study was of mixed design. It was a quantitative study with a between subjects research design in which the ACT scores of home schooled and a group of public school students are compared controlling for gender and ethnicity and a qualitative study examining perceptions on Missouri's public school and home school policies in a telephone interview. The correlational analyses of the data revealed weak and not significant correlations among all the variables. The ANOVA and regression analyses showed there were not significant differences in ACT scores between college freshman that have attended a public school and college freshman students who were home schooled, even when controlling for gender. The interviews revealed that even though home schoolers and public education administration have a common goal to educate children, their differing views on the topic of regulation and accountability. The state would like there to be more accountability for home schoolers. While home schoolers do not feel any more control is needed by the state over home schoolers. This study was a truly exploratory look into home schooling in Missouri. The preceding description about perceptions on home school policy in Missouri illustrates there are strong opinions on both sides of the issue. Further, the findings seem to support the idea that there will probably not be any immediate changes to the home school policy in Missouri.