Summary:
In Isenberg's (2007) study "What Have We Learned About Homeschooling?", the researcher seeks to expand the knowledge and data regarding the success of homeschooling, as well as the motivations behind parents homeschooling their children. Among the many subjects covered by the case study is the effect on religion on homeschooling, comparing children in homeschools and in conventional schools. Educational Testing Service (ETS) SAT data was analyzed, including all the children, homeschooled and others, who took the SAT in 2001. Microdata from the NHES (National Household Education Survey) including the amount of religious participation was also included.
Multiple regression analysis was conducted on this data to determine the percentage of children who entered homeschooling for each particular reason (religious, educational, behavioral or special needs, or other). According to the results, 41.8% of homeschooling students who took the SAT in 2001 have some sort of religious faith, less than the 52.5% of religious children in public schools. According to independent variables, which were analyzed with a log-odds regression model, evangelical Protestants were shown to be far more likely to homeschool their children than any other religion, or between homeschooling their children and sending them to public school. With that in mind, the results indicate that religion does play an important factor in many homeschooling parental situations. Evangelical Protestants were shown to be more eager to send their children to public school in districts with more highly concentrated areas of Protestants, but otherwise public schools are increasingly avoided for religious reasons.
Analysis:
In this study, a comprehensive search for the religious reasoning behind sending children to homeschooling situations was conducted fairly well. Multiple sources for data were conducted, using national sources so as to create a more comprehensive and larger sample size. However, it would have benefited the researchers to investigate new data as well, as the existing data was between four and fourteen years old at the time of publication. Independently conducted data could have allowed greater control of the questions and variables asked, instead of creating "dummy" variables among the data which existed already. Threats to validity include the use of existing data, which was not necessarily collected under the same purpose or using the precise variables needed by the researcher for the study.
Regardless of the potential threats to validity, the implications of the findings are quite strong. The heavy emphasis on religion when it comes to homeschooling provides an interesting alternative to "different educational approaches" when wondering why people put their children in homeschooling situations. The focus on evangelical Protestants as particular proponents of religious-based homeschooling implies that they have a particular distrust of the public school system's ability to preserve their religion while still instructing their children. Further study into individual cases of evangelical Protestants homeschooling their children (and the reasons why) could yield more detailed data regarding the reasons for that decision.
References
Isenberg, E.J. (2007). What have we learned about homeschooling? Peabody Journal of
Education n82, n2-3, p387-409. Retrieved from
http://www.educate.vt.edu/PSLC/modules/fall10/edfdns/lesson3/Isenberg2007Homescho
oling.pdf.
Jones, P, and Gloeckner, G. (2004). A Study of admission officer’s perception of and attitude
toward homeschool students. Journal of College Admission, n185 p12-21 Fall. Retrieved
from http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ682479.pdf.
Milton, G. (2008). Why Homeschooling Happened. Educational Horizons, v86 n4 p226-237.
Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/PDFS/EJ799390.pdf
