Help for school-board candidates

In case you missed it, January was School Board Recognition Month. Fortunately, there's now an organization in Oklahoma assisting liberty-minded school-board candidates. American Majority is a political training organization which trains and equips candidates -- including candidates for local school board -- who are committed to freedom and limited government.

'Works both ways'

"Turnabout is fair play," the state's largest newspaper editorializes today:

In response to a lawmaker’s ill-advised proposal to crack down on homeschoolers, Russell E. Spiars of Zionsville, Ind., suggests that a pro-homeschool legislator author a bill to let homeschool parents crack down on public schools. A pending bill would require parents to alert local school districts of their homeschool plans and offer academic progress reports. Spiars, in a letter to The Oklahoman, says, "I have observed many kids from both homeschools and government schools, and it is apparent to me that the most effective means of improving educational achievement would be to give homeschooling officials oversight over government schools." Of course there aren't enough homeschool parents to go around, but it's apparent that public schools need more oversight than homeschooling parents.

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Oklahoma 'ahead of the curve'

My friend Bob Holland, a senior fellow for education policy at the Heartland Institute, has an excellent letter to the editor in today's Oklahoman. "Homeschooling has become one of the most positive trends in American education over the past few decades," he writes.

Today, an estimated 2 million children are homeschooled; 20 years ago there were only a few thousand. Moreover, their academic and social achievements are numerous. For instance, home-schooled youngsters regularly win or place high in the National Spelling Bee, and many studies have documented their solid academic achievement.

Oklahoma was ahead of the curve in recognizing and protecting the freedom of parents to educate their children at home. It adopted a constitutional provision guaranteeing this right 102 years ago; it remains the only state to have done so. All states now allow homeschooling by statute, but Oklahoma's laws are among the top 10 in providing a favorable regulatory climate.

Therefore, your editorial was right on the mark in decrying an attempt to require homeschooling parents to sign up on a state registry and report regularly to state bureaucrats. Surely there are better ways to ferret out a few cases of parental neglect than making all families wards of the state.

76 percent of OU students, and 73 percent of OSU students ...

... fail to graduate in four years.

HT: Matt Ladner

Grading the graders

Here's a little nugget from today's bulletin from our friends at the Thomas B. Fordham Institute:

Last week, when Barack Obama said that "those of us who manage the public's dollars will ... do our business in the light of day, because only then can we restore the vital trust between and people and their government," he must have had Oklahoma in mind. A new proposal from the Oklahoma Business & Education Coalition would create an independent agency to manage the state's testing and accountability program. Those functions are currently handled by (elected) state education superintendent Sandy Garrett, and department that she leads. Understandably, she's not too thrilled about this idea, calling it "more bureaucracy." But Sandy should know better. Having the state education agency evaluate its own performance is like having students grade their own tests. With those kinds of perverse incentives, it's no wonder Oklahoma is bragging about good news while its students are lagging. In fact, this is such a good idea that other states should steal it for themselves -- "sooner" rather than later.

Heritage Foundation researcher: Protect homeschool freedom

Heritage Foundation researcher Lindsey Burke has published a new memorandum on what "may be the fastest-growing form of education in the United States" (Homeschooling Sees Dramatic Rise in Popularity).

In general, homeschooled students perform as well as -- and in some cases outperform -- their non-homeschooled peers. ...

Policymakers should protect parents' rights to homeschool their children and enact reforms that remove barriers to homeschooling.

Homeschooling families provide a valuable contribution to American education, often while incurring a significant financial burden in addition to their taxes paid toward public education. Policies should recognize the educational contribution of homeschooling and ensure that the freedom to homeschool is permanently protected and fostered.

State Chamber CEO: ‘Students deserve honest appraisal’

"The greatest disservice to graduates of Oklahoma's education system is to receive their first failing grade after graduation -- when they attempt to apply their skills in the job market," writes Dick Rush, president and CEO of The State Chamber. "They soon learn how competitive that environment is."

Mr. Rush points to a new study which "shows our children are being misled with inflated test scores into thinking they are prepared for college and the work force."

And we expect them to excel

The Oklahoman reports today that "Hispanic students account for the largest jump in enrollment in Oklahoma schools this year." But before anyone goes to making excuses for poor student performance, let us recall that demography is not destiny.

Obama's Catholic-school roots

Two interesting articles in yesterday's Wall Street Journal: Mary Pilon reports that private schools are feeling the pinch in this recession, while columnist William McGurn suggests that President Obama should acknowledge his Catholic-school roots and help give those schools a boost.

'I'm from the government and I'm here to help'

An open letter to state Sen. Mary Easley:

Recent news reports indicate that a bill you're introducing this year would require my wife and me to notify our local school district that we are homeschooling our four children, and would also require us to provide an academic progress report to school officials.

Now I realize your bill is not yet law, and indeed probably won't become law, but in the spirit of good citizenship I wanted to check in nonetheless. Free society or not, I think it's important that rulers are kept apprised of what their citizens are up to.

I happened to notice some empty parking lots at an Edmond public school this morning as I was driving in to work. Apparently the public schools are closed today due to inclement weather. So I was thinking you might want to consider a friendly amendment to your bill: If ever the public schools would like to notify me that they are not educating children on a given day, they could contact me at my office (602-1667). It's best not to call our home phone, as my wife is busy teaching during the day and doesn't like to answer the phone.

As for an academic progress report, well, I assume the schools wouldn't have much to report to me today, what with them not teaching and all, but I don't mind giving you a brief summary of what's going on at our house. Feel free to pass this on to the school district if you like.

My 1st-grade son is studying his usual subjects: reading, grammar, math, and history. Ironically, today he is learning about one of his fellow homeschoolers, George Washington.

My 5th-grade daughter is, among other things, doing her 7th-grade Saxon math, studying the U.S. Constitution, and working on her future-tense Latin verbs. She's a corker, that one. When she was a mere 3rd grader, she was (according to your own state tests, which of course are famous for their rigor) a proficient 8th-grade reader.

My 8th-grade daughter is doing chemistry, grammar, history, math, and the present system passive of third-conjugation Latin verbs.

My 10th-grade son is working on his calculus, anatomy, and translating passages from Livy's Early History of Rome. He's also studying Teddy Roosevelt (another homeschooler! I didn't plan this, I swear. It's just that so many of the great ones were homeschooled.).

Now, I realize that your legislation requires me to give academic progress reports to the school district, but I trust that (here's another friendly amendment) in the spirit of good citizenship the school district wouldn't mind giving progress reports to me, too. I mean, not to pull rank or anything, but, hey, I am the one paying their salaries, not the other way around. And besides, reviewing Edmond's academic progress reports would be exceedingly helpful to my wife and me in helping us determine just how far behind our children are. It would show us the standard to which we should aspire.

For example, when my oldest son was in 8th grade, all he was really able to learn that year was Algebra II, Henle Latin I, intermediate logic, physical science, grammar, and composition. Well, plus he read and discussed The Epic of Gilgamesh; The Code of Hammurabi; The Odyssey; The Histories; The Oresteia Trilogy; Plutarch’s Lives; The Theban Trilogy; The Last Days of Socrates; The Early History of Rome; The Aeneid; The Twelve Caesars; Till We Have Faces; The Unaborted Socrates; Genesis; Exodus; I and II Samuel; I and II Kings; Isaiah; Jeremiah; Chosen by God; and Socrates Meets Jesus, among others.

Now, I'm not naïve. I realize that 8th graders in Oklahoma's world-class public school system are learning all this and more. Who among us didn't have an 8th-grade history teacher/football coach wax eloquent on the influence of Stoic philosophy on Gaius Gracchus? Heck, as a retired teacher you know better than anyone that the 8th graders in your hometown of Tulsa (or Owasso, or Grand Lake Towne, whatever) are learning all this and more. I'm just sayin': If the local school district would simply provide homeschooling parents with an academic progress report, we'll be able to see how far behind we are and set our sights accordingly. School officials could just send mine to my home address (105 Lakeview Court, Edmond, OK 73003), that would be fine.

Lastly, Senator, I wanted to point out something that might be of interest to you as you grapple with the huge budget shortfall at the state capitol this year. I was doing a back-of-the-envelope calculation the other day and determined that my wife and I have saved our fellow taxpayers more than $200,000 (so far) by educating our own children at home rather than asking taxpayers to foot the bill. (That's actually a conservative estimate -- there's no question the real cost is substantially higher.) And since our kids are still young, this figure will continue to mount, meaning you and your colleagues will have more money available to appropriate for roads and bridges, prisons, Medicaid, and so on. No, no, there's no need to send me a thank-you note. Well, okay. The home address would be fine.

Well, thank you for your time, Senator. And please, you feel free to check in anytime. Nothing warms my heart like answering the phone or a knock on the door and being greeted with a hearty, "Hi, I'm from the government and I'm here to help."

Right now I've got to get back to doing a little something done by so many great Americans, including father-of-three Horace Mann, the father of America's public school system: homeschooling my children.

Oklahoma in line for $339 million in school vouchers

As I never tire of repeating, school choice is alive and well in Oklahoma, most notably in higher education. And now The Oklahoman's Chris Casteel reports that Oklahoma could be in line for another $339 million in Pell Grants.

Two years behind? Hogwash

State Sen. Jim Wilson (D-Tahlequah) made a rather startling claim this week. As The Oklahoman's Sheila Stogsdill reported:

On the average, homeschooled students who go into public schools are two years behind students their age, Wilson said. "You hear examples of homeschool students excelling, but that is not the norm," Wilson said. 

Two years behind? One wonders where Sen. Wilson unearthed that extraordinary datum. Because the fact of the matter is, "homeschool students excelling" actually is the norm. As author and attorney Bruce Shortt has written:

No study anywhere has ever shown that homeschooled students in any state do worse academically than government-schooled students. In fact, virtually every study ever done on the academic performance of homeschoolers shows that they do substantially better academically than their bureaucratically managed government-school counterparts.

Curious, I called the senator's office on January 21 to ask for a citation on this "two years behind" claim. I got his voicemail, so I left a message asking him to call me. I'll let you know what I find out.

In the meantime, I received an e-mail from one homeschool expert who sketched out a scenario for "homeschool failure" that actually does occur:

Mrs. Jones becomes unhappy with the local school for some reason and has heard about "homeschooling." Subsequently, she pulls Johnny out to "homeschool" him. Johnny, by the way, is already one to two years behind academically (courtesy of the local school) and is very peer-dependent.

Now Mrs. Jones, who has only "heard" of homeschooling, proceeds to "school" Johnny for six hours a day at the kitchen table. Johnny hates six hours a day of lectures from his mom and hates being separated from his government-school peer group. Mrs. Jones, for her part, finds that "homeschooling" interferes with her "personal time." So, after two months Mrs. Jones declares that "homeschooling" doesn't work and returns Johnny to school. Johnny, of course, is still one to two years behind despite being "homeschooled" for two months. Johnny's teacher, then, can claim that homeschooling students who are enrolled in school come in "behind" academically. There are variations on this scenario, but all involve similar elements.

Another government-school scam for tarnishing homeschooling is to tell kids that are dropping out, or that the school wants to have drop out (because they are hugely disruptive or violent), that if they declare that they are leaving to be "homeschooled" they won't be harassed for being truant. This helps the bureaucrat by "reducing" his dropout rate, while at the same time creating a group of faux homeschoolers that they can use to smear homeschooling. I first heard about this from an uncle who is a teacher and subsequently have read about it going on in various parts of the country and the UK.

Undoubtedly, there are homeschooled children who were born on the left-hand side of the bell curve. What is amazing is that with homeschool averages tending to be so high, the standard deviations cannot be large. So, those kids are performing at higher levels than you would normally expect from children whose IQ is below average.

Finally, are there true homeschool failures (defined as children who would be better off if they weren't homeschooled)? There must be, but they are so rare that I haven't encountered any. Normally, when you hear from someone that they know of a family in which the children shouldn't be homeschooled, further discussion usually reveals that the person doesn't approve of homeschooling, has no idea of what reasonable standards are, dislikes the fact that the children are receiving a Christian education, and so on.

This isn't the first time Sen. Wilson has done his "Professor" Harold Hill routine, but it is the first time I've heard him allege that homeschooled children are generally two academic years behind public school students. I shall sit by the phone awaiting that footnote, but for now I couldn't respond to his assertion any better than the state's largest newspaper did: "That's hogwash and a ridiculous scare tactic based on the comments of a few teachers."

For equal opportunity

Democratic state Senator Judy Eason McIntyre (pictured here with Democratic state Rep. Jabar Shumate) has authored Senate Bill 882, the Oklahoma Equal Opportunity Educational Scholarship Act. The bill would provide scholarships for students in low-performing schools and students with special needs.