Surprise! Homeschooled Students Do Well In College

A new study quantifies what homeschoolers have known in their hearts from the beginning: homeschooled students not only succeed in college, but actually outperform conventionally schooled students.  They also graduate in larger numbers than do other students.

So much for those accusations of "isolation" producing unwashed,  uneducated, socially inept young adults.

As recently as twenty years ago, colleges were still skeptical about whether homeschooled students were suitable candidates for a four-year degree program. Today, the vast majority of colleges have a specific admissions policy for homeschooled students that usually includes a portfolio of work, standardized test scores, and reference letters.

The study found that homeschooled students had higher first-year GPA's than other students. Moreover, homeschooled students had higher composite ACT scores. Though their math scores were  a little lower, their reading, English and science scores were much higher than those of students in any other category.

The study, entitled Exploring Academic Outcomes of Homeschooled Students, was based on a college in the Midwest with 11,000 students. Approximately 1% of the student body was homeschooled.

This is good news for homeschooling families. Not only does it confirm what they already suspected, but the study was not done by a homeschooling advocacy group.  Now, I personally do not have a problem with the National Center for Home Education or the studies they have conducted - but for those outside the homeschooling fold, a study by an independent party may be more persuasive.

Pat yourselves on the back, parents, for producing intelligent, hardworking, high-achieving, well-rounded future leaders in America!