Attachment No. 4

The process of education in home study programs often is not well understood by the general public or the State's education agencies. In home study, children need not be paced by a fixed schedule, so they may spend as much time as needed to achieve mastery of a topic. The content and method of home study can be customized to the individual student. Often, the student is given significant responsibility for selecting the specific material to be studied, for selecting the method of study, and even for scheduling the studies. As a result, homeschooled children often have a great personal commitment to their education. Homeschooled children spend a significant portion of their time in community-based activities, and as a group, spend significantly less time watching television than do their institutionally-educated peers (see the Ray study cited in attachment No. 2).

Curriculum materials in homeschooling come from a wide variety of sources. According to Dr. Brian Ray's study (cited in attachment No. 2), 24% of homeschoolers use a complete curriculum package from some curriculum provider, but 71% use a curriculum in which the components are handpicked. Homeschoolers tend to be very active library users. Because there are no hard time constraints and a diverse set of curriculum sources, most homeschooling parents focus on mastery rather than grades and the results are seen in the academic achievement test scores recorded by homeschoolers.

The extent and level of a homeschooled student's mastery may be reflected either in a traditional transcript prepared by the parents, or in a personal portfolio. A transcript requires a judgement by the homeschooling parent regarding the "relative level of achievement", and is viewed as unacceptable by the Board of Regents. However, the Board's staff clearly understands the limitation of comparing grades across different teachers or different schools. So the lack of "certification" of homeschooler "grades" may not be any more of a problem than the variability of grades from public schools. Homeschoolers are much more comfortable with a personal portfolio, which can detail the activities, the curriculum resources, samples of the student's work, and awards and other recognition the student has received. Using a portfolio in admissions decisions requires that someone examine the portfolio and make a judgement. At the present time, the Board's new policies do not consider either the transcript or the portfolio as valid data for University System admissions decisions.

Conventional classrooms must adapt the needs of a diverse group of students to standardized teaching resources, a large student-teacher ratio, and a fixed academic schedule. In this setting, some children have to stop short of mastery, through no fault of the teacher or the child, but due to the schedule and the natural variation in aptitude, interest, readiness, and other factors. Grades are needed to record the level of mastery actually achieved, since it may fall short of the ideal. The Board of Regents has made grades a fundamental requirement for admission, although it clearly understands that the same grade means different things for different teachers and different schools.

Conventional (public school) classrooms do have the benefit of investment resources for expensive equipment and materials that generally are not available to homeschoolers. Examples include chemistry and physics labs, and computer labs.

The achievement scores seem to indicate that homeschooling works quite well. The reasons for its success probably include the commitment of the parents, the motivation and commitment of the children, the flexibility to customize their educational experience, and the nurturing environment in which homeschooling takes place.