Dr. Brian Ray of the National Home Education Research Institute recently highlighted data on homeschoolers and SAT scores. Based on reporting by the College Board, in 2014 homeschoolers scored higher than the national average on the SAT in all three sections: critical reading, mathematics, and writing.

Dr. Ray reports that “(s)ome 13,549 homeschool seniors had the following mean scores: 567 in critical reading, 521 in mathematics, and 535 in writing (College Board, 2014a). The mean SAT scores for all college-bound seniors in 2014 were 497 in critical reading, 513 in mathematics, and 487 in writing.”

Also notable was that the demographics for these homeschool students match up well with national trends. “(T)he family incomes of the homeschool students were similar to those of all students. Regarding ethnicity, for example, 72 percent of the homeschool students were White, 5 percent were Asian, Asian American, or Pacific Islander, and 4 percent were Black or African American, while of all college-bound seniors, the corresponding percentages were 49, 12, and 13. The average highest level of parental education was notably higher for the homeschool students than for all students.”

Dr. Ray does note that has been no analysis to determine whether certain background variables might statistically explain the differences in scores, but, nonetheless, it’s valuable data for understanding how homeschoolers fare compared to their public- and private-school peers.

Whether it’s preparing to solve geometry problems, do a close reading of a text, or craft an excellent essay, parents are crucial for the success of their students. Consider my previous blog post, which references a study that found the best thing parents can do for their children, in terms of helping them flourish academically, is to surround them with books.

Here’s a link to my earlier series with tips for parental engagement as it pertains to math education.

The photo was resized from flickr with a CC 2.0 license.

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