Longitudinal Trends in Homeschool Regulation

• In Event: Homeschooling in America: The Changing Regulation, Motivation, and Population

Abstract

Objective
Homeschool participation has doubled. Microschools, where policy often overlaps with homeschool policy, have drastically expanded. Further, the rise in Education Savings Accounts opened more options for parents as they pursued the right educational “fit” for their child. This paper considers how these changes in education mode and funding policy may have impacted the regulation of education across various sectors. Specifically, as new modes of education emerged and expanded, has the regulation of these modes increased, and are there differences in regulation changes by sector, with a focus on homeschooling policy? This study uses longitudinal data from the US Department of Education’s Office of Innovation regarding homeschool and private school regulation over time. I compare the changes in regulation across the two sectors and find that while private school regulation appears to have increased, homeschooler regulation has decreased or "modernized.”
Methods
I access longitudinal data from the US Department of Education’s Office of Innovation regarding homeschool and private school regulation over the last two decades. I conduct descriptive quantitative analysis, specifically cataloging changing regulatory by state for a national picture of changing accountability policy over time.
Results
While regulation of private schools in general (US DOE), and for those receiving public funds has increased (Ed Choice, 2019), there is decreased regulation for homeschool. I find that the states in 2012 that required parents to at least file an application in order to homeschool has remained stable over time, even decreasing slightly, particularly in recent years. Similarly states that require homeschool students to take a standardized test has decreased over time. Again, particularly in most recent years. These findings indicate a trend towards less state regulation of homeschooling.
Significance
Nearly 5- 6% of all K-12 students in American are being homeschooled right now, and many more have been homeschooled at some point in their academic careers, yet we know very little about this increasing group of students. Further, ESAs are expanding to include these and other homeschool adjacent students (those in various forms of microschools, pods, hybrid, virtual, and co-op schools). This paper adds to our understanding of how the changing society and policy landscape is driving expansion and thus impacting both regulation and policy. And how these changes may be different by sector or mode.

Author

• Angela R. Watson, Johns Hopkins University