Record: J. C. Blokhuis, “Whose Custody is it Anyway?: ‘Homeschooling’ from a Parens Patriae Perspective,” in Theory and Research in Education, 8, no. 2 (August 2010): 199-222. [Abstract available here]
Summary: Blokhuis, Assistant Professor of Education at Renison University College at the University of Waterloo in Canada, here presents a bracing challenge to the common claim that parents have a Constitutional right to raise their children as they see fit. Continue reading
Record:Catherine J. Ross, “Fundamentalist Challenges to Core Democratic Values: Exit and Homeschooling.” in William and Mary Bill of Rights Journal 18, 991-1014 (2010). [Available Here]
Summary: Ross, Professor of Law at George Washington University, here argues several claims:
1. assertions homeschoolers make to constitutional authority for their practice are false
2. the state’s interest in preparing children for life in a pluralist democracy trumps parental liberty interests in controlling children’s educations
3. in custody battles where homeschooling is at issue, the state should prefer formal schooling to homeschooling
4. states should engage in “far more stringent oversight and regulation of homeschooling than exists in any state at present.” (p. 992) Continue reading
Record: Timothy B. Waddell, “Bringing it all Back Home: Establishing a Coherent Constitutional Framework for the Re-Regulation of Homeschooling” in Vanderbilt Law Review, 63 (2010): 541-598. [Available fulltext here]
Summary: Waddell, a graduate from Vanderbilt Law School and clerk for the U.S. District Court of Alabama, here presents a constitutional argument for increased regulation of homeschooling and much else besides. Continue reading
Record: Sandra Martin-Chang, Odette N. Gould, and Reanne E. Meuse, “The Impact of Schooling on Academic Achievement: Evidence from Homeschooled and Traditionally Schooled Children.” Canadian Journal of Behavioural Science 43, no. 3 (July 2011): 195-202.
Summary: The authors of this study of 74 children, half homeschooled, half institutionally schooled, conclude that structured homeschooling is best, public schooling next, and unstructured homeschooling worst at producing high levels of academic achievement. Continue reading
Record: Teri Dobbins Baxter, “Private Oppression: How Laws that Protect Privacy Can Lead to Oppression” in Kansas Law Review 58, no. 2 (January 2010): 415-471 [Available for purchase here]
Summary: Baxter, Professor of Law at St. Louis University, here seeks to get leverage on how to best handle the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) issue that blew up in Texas four years ago. The FLDS made the news in a big way when their Texas compound was raided in April of 2008 by Texas State authorities, who removed 437 children from the site, prompting the largest child custody battle in U.S. history and enormous media coverage.
After summarizing the raid and its aftermath, Baxter does two things. First, she surveys the various U.S. Constitutional issues the situation raises. Second, she delves deeply into most of the important state-level court cases that have limned the extent of parental rights in terms of homeschooling. Why her focus on homeschooling law? Continue reading
Record: Michael F. Cogan, “Exploring Academic Outcomes of Homeschooled Students” in Journal of College Admission 208: 18-25(2010). Full article available here.
Summary: Cogan acknowledges the lack of satisfactory, empirical research concerning homeschooled students’ academic achievements and/or outcomes at the collegiate level. In an effort to correct the deficiency, he compares the academic outcomes (or academic standing as evidenced by comparative GPAs) of homeschooled students to those of traditionally-educated students enrolled at a mid-sized doctoral institution in the Midwest. Continue reading
Record: Ronald Kreager, Jr., “Homeschooling: The Future of Education’s Most Basic Institution,” in University of Toledo Law Review, 42, no. 1 (Fall 2010): 227-233. [Excerpt available here]
Summary/Critique: Kreager, a J.D. candidate at the University of Toledo College of Law, here pens a sprawling and somewhat eccentric article on several topics related to homeshooling. Continue reading
Record: Brian D. Ray, “Academic Achievement and Demographic Traits of Homeschool Students: A Nationwide Study” in Academic Leadership Live: The Online Journal 8, no. 1 (February 2010). [Available Here]
Summary: This is the latest of a long line of nearly identical studies Ray has been performing for decades now at fairly even intervals. This new study tries very hard to overcome one of the most persistent deficiencies of his previous work (and the 1999 Rudner study)–the near exclusive reliance on HSLDA’s advertisement to recruit subjects, leading to unrepresentative samples. This time around Ray tried to recruit families from outside of the HSLDA orbit. Did he succeed? Continue reading
Record: Terry M. Moe and John E Chubb, Liberating Learning: Technology, Politics, and the Future of American Education
Summary: Moe and Chubb are legendary in the world of Educational Policy. Their 1990 book Politics, Markets and America’s Schools
Record: Thomas Spiegler, “Why State Sanctions Fail to Deter Home Education: An Analysis of Home Education in Germany and its Implications for Home Education Policies” in Theory and Research in Education 7, no. 3 (November 2009): 297-309
Summary: Thomas Spiegler, a sociology professor at Friedensau Adventist University in Germany, draws some policy implications from his award-winning 2007 doctoral dissertation, which was the first ever study of homeschooling in Germany. Continue reading
