Jamie A. Dye

Date of Defense

1-30-2007

Department

Political Science

First Advisor

Dr. Peter Wielhouwer

Second Advisor

Dr. David Houghton

Third Advisor

Dr. Ashlyn Kuersten

Abstract

Somewhere between 1.9 and 2.4 million children in the United States are home schooled, according to the National Home Education Research Institute (NHERI) (Ray 2006). This reflects at least twice the number of students as are in the nation's charter schools (about 750,000 according to the National Education Association statistics) (Charter 2006). The NHERI also reports that over the last twenty years home schooling has become the fastest growing educational choice movement in America, at a rate of 7 percent to 12 percent each year (Ray 2006). With the speed at which the popularity of this educational option has grown, so have come a variety of state laws regulating such activities. This growth is the motivation for researching the variation in the home schooling laws of the fifty states in America and the creation of a new system to organize the states by their home school laws. A new and independent ranking system is useful and beneficial for parents, home school establishments, teachers associations, the National Educational Association, and anyone who may have an interest in influencing the home school movement.

Access Setting

Honors Thesis-Campus Only

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