A Meaningful Measure of Homeschool Academic Achievement

Statistical Analysis of Standardized Test Performance in Alaska Public Correspondence Schools

Abstract

Non-traditional education has a long history in Alaska, where publicly-funded correspondence programs educate a large portion of the state’s children. Publicly-available data from these correspondence schools allows a state-wide comparison between the standardized test scores of traditional and correspondence students. We found that there was no overall difference between the scores of traditional and correspondence students. However, correspondence students who were white, non-disabled, and non-economically disadvantaged scored significantly lower than their counterparts in traditional school, while correspondence students of color, disabled correspondence students, and low-income correspondence students scored significantly higher than their peers in traditional school. Correspondence students in nearly every demographic category scored significantly lower than traditional students in math. We argue that these findings have important implications for homeschooling policy.