Date: Tue, 3 Jul 2001 23:47:56 -0700
From: apfanning@yahoo.com ("Alan Fanning")
Subject: [lpaz-discuss] Republic calls for homeschooling "oversight"
To: lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com, lpaz-Pima@yahoogroups.com
Reply-To: lpaz-discuss@yahoogroups.com


Just in case you missed it, the Arizona Republic in their normal statist
fashion today endorsed testing and other "oversight" of homeschoolers by the
state.  This seems to be a coordinated effort with some of the Demolicans in
the legislature.  I am composing my LTE and will post to the group.  I
suggest that others do the same.

--Alan Fanning


Home schooling needs oversight
merely filing form doesn't ensure learning

July 03, 2001 12:00:00


Home schooling is a valuable educational alternative that has earned respect
nationwide.

But home schooling hasn't earned the right to be free from oversight.

The state of Arizona requires children to be in school because it recognizes
the importance of education for he future well-being of individual children
as well as of the community. The state does not lose that interest in seeing
that children are well educated simply because a parent decides to teach at
home.

Yet in this state, all a parent has to do is fill out a one-page form, get
it notarized and he or she can pull a child out of school to be educated at
home.

Nobody asks how well the child is doing or what - if anything - the child is
learning. That has to change.

Critics of home schooling say some parents use hom schooling as a cover for
keeping older kids home to do chores and baby-sitting. Others may register
the child for home schooling just to avoid a truancy citation, stemming from
the child's continual absence from school.

Unfortunately, no one can answer these charges with certainty because
Arizona has not required testing of home-schooled children since 1993.

The testing requirement that was eliminated may have needed changing. At the
time, it gave county school superintendents the option of taking away
home-schooling rights if a child was not progressing academically. It also
provided jail penalties for violations.

A less punitive, more supportive approach would make the test an instrument
against which parents can measure progress. An annual test for home-schooled
children can and should be used - much as tests are used in public schools -
to identify areas of a child's education that require more attention.

Next legislative session, lawmakers should restore regular testing for
home-schooled children with this goal in mind.

No doubt, most parents chose to home-school their children for valid
reasons. They may disagree with commonly used teaching methods. They may
want to spare their child from the negative peer pressures. They may want to
pass along their personal value systems as free as possible from the
influence of the mass commercial culture.

It's hard work, but these days, an array of curricula and specialized
software - coupled with support groups - make it easier than ever for a
parent to do an excellent job teaching at home.

That makes home schooling one of many promising facets of education reform.

But parents who take their children out of the classroom should not be
allowed to opt out of accountability for their children's academic
performance.

Home schooling demands oversight.


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