After doubling from 1999 to 2012, the percentage of homeschool students appears to have leveled off at 3.3 percent, reports Sarah Grady for the National Center for Education Statistics.
The most important reason for homeschooling in 2016 was “concern about the school environment, such as safety, drugs, or negative peer pressure,” reported by 34 percent of parents of homeschooled students, according to the First Look report.
Other reasons cited as most important by families of homeschooled students in 2016 were dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools (17 percent of homeschooled students’ parents) and a desire to provide religious instruction (16 percent).
“The rapid growth of The rapid growth of digital programs and curricula have given families greater freedom to buy all-in-one curricula or choose from a menu of online options,” notes Sean Cavanagh for Ed Week Market Brief.
Sixty percent of homeschool students are white, slightly larger than the U.S. public school population, while 26 percent are Hispanic, 8 percent, black, non-Hispanic; 4 percent other non-Hispanic; and 3 percent Asian or Pacific Islander.
Twenty-one percent of homeschool students come from low-income families.
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