Content provided in partnership with

Homeschoolers on to College: What Research Shows Us

Journal of College Admission, Fall 2004 by Ray, Brian D

<< Page 1 Continued from page 7. Previous | Next

Make sure your college has policies for receiving applications from and admitting the home-educated and make sure that your admission policies are reasonable, based on research and broad experience, and fair.

Here are some guidelines (some of which are from the Home School Legal Defense Association, 2004):

1. If your institution requires an SAT or ACT score in general, then simply also require that of the horneschooler.

2. Ask the home-educated to provide you with a transcript, but have flexible guidelines for these records and documentation of courses of study completed. They will not have the same look as those from institutional schools.

More Articles of Interest: Colleges vying to attract home-schooled students; A Study of Admission Officers' Perceptions of and Attitudes Toward Homeschool...; Homeschool Recruiting: Lessons Learned on the Journey; College admissions adapt for home-schooled teens; First-Year College Performance: A Study of Home School Graduates and...

3. Ask the home-educated for a list of "extracurricular" activities.

4. Ask them for a bibliography of what they read during their secondary years. You might learn things about the breadth and depth of their education that you would have never known, especially if you only ask for a transcript.

5. Recognize the validity of homeschool high school completion or diplomas. Homeschooling is legal in all 50 states and, as explained in this article, the research shows that they are doing well academically.

6. For more information, contact the National Home Education Research Institute (www.nheri.org).

Homeschooling is growing and will continue to grow. Based on current information, there may be 3 million homeschool K-12 students living in the U.S. by 2010 (Ray, 2004a). Colleges and universities will soon see a sudden growth in the number applying for admission. Evidence to date points to a high success rate in adulthood in general, and in college in particular, for these individuals who have been raised and educated outside mainstream institutional schools. Perhaps they will bring, at a higher rate, some distinctive and positive traits to your college's or university's life that neither you nor professors have seen in awhile.

References

Apple, Michael W. (2000). The cultural politics of home schooling. Peabody Journal of Education, 75(1 & 2), 256-271.

Barnebey, Leslie Faulkner. (1986). American university admission requirements for home schooled applicants, in 1984. Dissertation Abstracts International, 47(3), 798A.

Barber, Geoff. (2001, February 20). Personal communication via fax with Geoff Barber, Educational Testing Service.

Evans, Dennis L. (2003, September 2). Home is no place for school. Retrieved 9/3/03 online http:// www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/ editorials/ 2003-09-02-opposee_x.htm.

Foster, Christine. (2000, November/ December). In a class by themselves. Stanford Magazine. Retrieved 12/4/00 online http:// www.stanfordalumni.org/jg/mig/ news_magazine/magazine/ novdecOO/articles/ horaeschooling.html.

Galloway, Rhonda A., & Sutton, Joe P. (1995). Home schooled and conventionally schooled high school graduates: A comparison of aptitude for and achievement in college English. Home School Researcher, 11(1), 1-9.

Galloway, Rhonda A., & Sutton, Joe P. (1997). College success of students from three high school settings: Christian school, home school, and public school. A paper presented at the annual meeting of the National Christian Home Educators Leadership Conference, Boston, MA, October 10, 1997.

Homeschoolers on to College: What Research Shows Us

Journal of College Admission, Fall 2004 by Ray, Brian D

Find Research Guides for:

Find Featured Titles for: Health

Most Popular Articles in Reference

Most Popular Publications in Reference