Record: Eric Wearne, “A Descriptive Survey of Why Parents Choose Hybrid Homeschools.” Journal of School Choice, 10, No. 3 (2016): 364-380. [Abstract / Modified Version Available Here]
Summary: Eric Wearne is Assistant Professor of Education at Georgia Gwinnett College. In this article he investigates the phenomenon of hybrid (part-time) homeschooling.
Record: Philippe Bongrand, “’Compulsory Schooling’ Despite the Law: How Education Policy Underpins the Widespread Ignorance of the Right to Home Educate in France.” Journal of School Choice, 10, No. 3 (2016): 320-329. [Abstract]
Summary: Bongrand is a researcher from the ÉMA Research Center in the School of Education at the University of Cergy-Pontoise. In this article, he discusses the reasons for the ignorance surrounding the right to home educate in France, even though school attendance is not, and has never been, legally compulsory.
Record: Jennifer Karinen, “Finding a Free Speech Right to Homeschool: An Emersonian Approach.” The Georgetown Law Journal, 105, No. 1 (2016): 191-215. [Abstract]
Summary: Karinen, a lawyer in New York and graduate of Georgetown University Law Center, in this article explains that a right to homeschool, including for secular purposes, can be assumed from the free speech protections of the First Amendment.
Record: Michael P. Donnelly, “The Human Right to Home Education.” Journal of School Choice, 10, No. 3 (2016): 283-296. [Abstract / Modified Version Available Here]
Summary: Michael P. Donnelly is Director of Global Outreach and Staff Attorney with the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA). In this article he argues that the German Constitutional Court (FCC) and the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) have ignored the human right to home education by upholding the German ban of the practice.
Record: Giuliana Liberto, “Child-led and interest-inspired learning, home education, learning differences and the impact of regulation.” Cogent Education, 3 (2016): 1-10. [Abstract]
Summary: Giuliana Liberto is a home educator who researched the effects of increased regulation on children’s learning and well-being in the home education community of New South Wales, Australia.
Record: Robin West, “A Tale of Two Rights.” Boston University Law Review, 94 (2014): 903-912. [Abstract]
Summary: Are individual rights a danger to societal aspirations for equality, community, and democracy? This is the question that West, a Professor of Law and Philosophy at Georgetown University, attempts to answer in this article.
Record: Ari Neuman and Oz Guterman, “Academic achievements and homeschooling—It all depends on the goals.” Studies in Educational Evaluation, 51 (2016): 1-6. [Abstract]
Summary: Neuman is senior lecturer of education at Western Galilee College, in Akko, Israel, and Guterman is senior lecturer in the Department of Human Resources at the same university. In this article they argue that while academic achievement is a commonly used to compare homeschooling and school learning, this may be a misguided comparison due to the different goals of the homeschooling movement.
Record: Lynne Kendall and Elizabeth Taylor, “‘We can’t make him fit into the system’: parental reflections on the reasons why home education is the only option for their child who has special educational needs.” International Journal of Primary, Elementary and Early Years Education, 44, No. 3 (2016): 297-310. [Abstract]
Summary: This small-scale study by Lynne Kendall and Elizabeth Taylor from the Department of Education, Health, and Community at Liverpool John Moores University in the UK investigates the perspectives of parents who withdrew their children from the state-maintained education system due to their children’s special educational needs.
Record: Gary Miron and Charisse Gulosino, Virtual Schools Report 2016: Directory and Performance Review. Boulder, CO: National Education Policy Center, (2016). [Available Here]
Introduction: This report is the fourth in an annual series published by the National Education Policy Center (NEPC). The first report in 2013 was followed by the 2014 report (reviewed here) and the 2015 report (reviewed here). I recommend reading the previous reviews first since this post will only cover the information that is new for 2016.
The NEPC report received a massive overhaul this year due to the addition of blended schools (schools that combine traditional face-to-face instruction with virtual instruction) alongside their discussion of full-time virtual schools. To briefly summarize the report’s findings, they say that, “Although the evidence base is becoming stronger and more convincingly negative, an increasing number of parents and students are opting for full or part-time online options” (p. 7).
Record: Merike Darmody, Maureen Lyons & Emer Smyth, “The home-school interface in religious and moral formation: the Irish case.” British Journal of Religious Education, 38, No. 3 (2016): 249-263. [Abstract]
Summary: Darmody and Smyth are researchers at the Economic and Social Research Institute, and Lyons is a research manager in the School of Social Justice at University College Dublin. In this article they investigate the roles that parents and school staff take in children’s faith and moral development and possible tensions that arise between parents and schools over issues relating to religious and secular beliefs in the context of the predominantly Roman Catholic Irish primary education system.
