When it comes to grades, new research suggests that homeschooling is superior to public-school education -- most of the time
PROBLEM: The murky debate on whether home schooling leads to poor social skills may never be resolved. But when it comes to more objective measures of performance, such as grades, how do home-schooled children fare against kids in public school?
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METHODOLOGY: Researchers assessed the academic aptitude of 74 Canadian children between five and 10 years old using standardized tests that involved reading, writing, and math, among other skills. Half of the participants were enrolled in public schools while the other half were educated at home. Among those who were home schooled, 12 were taught in an unstructured manner or without teachers, textbooks, and formal assessment.
RESULTS: Public-school children performed at or above expected levels for their ages, but children who received structured home schooling scored highest. They exhibited a half-grade advantage in math and were more than two grade levels higher in reading. Children in the unstructured home-schooling group, however, performed the worst across all seven academic measures.