The Rise of Homeschooling Regulation in the Era of School Choice: Legislative and Judicial Trends, 1972–2009

Abstract

Over the past four decades, states have increasingly regulated the practice of homeschooling. It is unclear, however, what initial conditions prompt states to regulate and whether states use the legislative or judicial system to do so. Using event history analyses, we identify how state-level political dynamics, social movement mobilization, and educational policies have shaped the timing of pertinent regulatory efforts by courts and state legislatures. Interestingly, predicting the timing of initial government court successes regarding homeschooling regulation is a different story from the one about the conditions that facilitate early adoption of homeschooling legislation. We show that homeschooling legislation reflects state-level educational, diffusion, and social movement dynamics. In contrast, early regulation via the courts is primarily determined by diffusion, and not by educational or social movement dynamics. Courts are both leading and lagging indicators of homeschooling regulation, because courts react to legislation and vice versa. In contrast, homeschooling legislation tends to be purely a lagging indicator, enacted largely in response to court decisions and in light of highly contentious school-choice and accountability-related policies.

Education in a pandemic, learning to guarantee inclusive education from an approach psychosocial

“…Research usually contextualizes the differences between EDE mediated by ICT, whose use has not been originally planned, its application being stressed by external and unexpected circumstances, such as, for example, a pandemic or disasters. natural, and online teaching planned from its origins with the use of ICT [3] .…”

“…Within the latter, one of the best known has been "homeschooling", used through the internet by a growing group of families since before COVID-19, with legal regulations existing in some countries, such as the United States, both in educational aspects as well as in prevention of violation of rights [3] .…”

Child Education Rights Versus Parental Preferences: A Paradox Between United Nations Conventions and Alternative Schooling Methods

“…Those who champion homeschooling point to Pierce v. Society of Sisters (1925) , a Supreme Court case that struck down a law requiring all children to attend public school and asserted that parents have the right to exercise control over their children’s education (Kunzman, 2009). Parental rights were further bolstered by Wisconsin v. Yoder, 406 U.S. 205 (1972) , a Supreme Court case allowing an Amish community to take their children out of formal education at an earlier age than state law requires (Kunzman, 2009; Renzulli et al, 2020). Arguably, Yoder was a watershed moment in the homeschool movement because it inspired the creation of homeschooling legal interest groups, such as the Homeschool Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) founded in 1983, and legislation that enhanced parental autonomy in the sphere of their education (Renzulli et al, 2020).…”

Contemporary Homeschooling Arrangements: An Analysis of Three Waves of Nationally Representative Data

“…Amid this trend toward greater customization, the practice of homeschooling has increased steadily over the span of four decades. The number of homeschooled children grew from approximately 15,000 children in the 1980s to an estimated two million children prior to the COVID-19 pandemic (McQuiggan et al, 2017; Renzulli et al, 2020). These numbers may climb further if families who experimented with homeschooling during the pandemic continue to do so beyond it (Hamlin & Peterson, 2022).…”