All about options
One common misconception when people mention “school choice” is that it means only public or private schools. As we have mentioned before, we believe in educational choices- providing families as many different affordable options as possible for educating their children.
One area in education that is growing here in Virginia- and nationally- is home schooling. The News Virginian looks at home schooling in their article, “Old School Alternative.”
“About 2 million students nationwide are homeschooled, according to the National Home Education Research Institute based in Salem, Ore.
More than 400 students in Waynesboro, Staunton and Augusta and Nelson counties and more than 20,000 statewide were homeschooled in 2006-07, the latest school year for which state statistics were available. Five years earlier, there were 338 area homeschoolers and 16,542 statewide.”
Delegate Saxman, Chairman of School Choice Virginia, was interviewed for the article:
“It’s not us versus them,” said Del. Chris Saxman, R-Staunton, a former schoolteacher and a staunch school choice advocate. “It’s simply what do you like best? Are you a Coke or Pepsi fan? Are you a Virginia Tech or U.Va. fan? Certain things click better with kids; some kids are better tuned to certain environments, some do better in a classroom and some do not. So we’re just trying to figure out as many options as possible so that families can find what works for them.”
More information on home schooling:
PERFORMANCE: Homeschool students score 15 to 30 percentile points higher than public school students on standardized tests.
MINORITIES: Homeschooling is growing in popularity among minorities, who make up about 15 percent of the roughly 2 million homeschool students nationwide.
SOURCE: NATIONAL HOME EDUCATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE
Comments
[...] As we have noted before, home schooling is one choice that benefits many families in Virginia and across the country. And it is a trend that is growing. [...]