Sooo, Okay, if PUBLIC schools meet national standardized testing standards, fine, they can continue, if not, PUBLIC schools should be prohibited????
IS what is good for the Goose as good for the Gander in this case?
If not, your logic is fatally flawed.
Raising children, to include shooling at primary levels, is a parents right and responsibility, morally, regardless of what the “state” says.
Best,
When EVERY public school student passes standardized test then we can MAYBE discuss the government testing my children for proficiency.
Actually I jest. If I want to keep my kids home and let them take apart and put back together old TVs that is no one’s business but my own. The government is not responsible for the education of my children and should have absolutely NO say in it.
Given your reasoning, then the government schooled kids who fail their standardized tests should **not** be allowed to continue government schooling. They should be forced to homeschool! :-)
And just who do the public schools answer to when THEY fail in educating the children institutionalized in them? Where do they send them? To homescoolers?
You are all about government control, hardly a conservative position.
And what debate would that be? Homeschoolers kick ASS in test after test after test, which is a big reason why public schools and unions would love to shut us down. The statists will not be satisfied until they control the minds of EVERY child. That’s why we fight. I’m shocked that you are on the side of the statists.
“How well do Homeschoolers do on those nationalized tests? That should be the only qualification to homeschooling.”
—”Nearly 80% of homeschooled children achieved individual scores above the national average and 54.7% of the 16,000 homeschoolers achieved individual scores in the top quarter of the population, more than double the number of conventional school students who score in the top quarter.”
(”Homeschooled Students Excel in College,” Christopher J. Klicka, September 20, 2006)
You’re a statist. Bet you can’t wait for your Obamacare.
I’m sorry for that last comment. I feel like I have failed you by being reserved. You’re a statist whore... much better.
How well does napscoordinator do on uptoolate's Conservative Rating test? That should be the only qualification to posting on FreeRepublic. If the napscoordinator does well on uptoolate's Conservative Rating test, then napscoordinator should be allowed to continue to post on FreeRepublic. If napscoordinator fails uptoolate's Conservative Rating test, or is below uptoolate's acceptable level then napscoordinator should not be allowed to post on FreeRepublic. Why is that so difficult to understand.
How well do Homeschoolers do on those nationalized tests? That should be the only qualification to homeschooling. If the students do well on the national standardized testing then they should be allowed to continue homeschooling. If they fail them or are below level than they should not be allowed to homeschool. Why is that so difficult to understand. A very easy way to conclude the whole homeschool debate.
Why is that so difficult to understand?
Perhaps because we have a much higher criteria than getting math scores. Perhaps we homeschool for reasons of family, home, heritage, faith, and conscience, as much or more than for academic test scores.
"Allowed" or "not allowed" by who, please?
We home school by calling of God, not by permission of man; the state, or anyone else, thank you.
We went through our episode of county attendance officers making threats and telling us where our children were supposed to be enrolled.
That was 28 years ago, and we continue . . . finishing up the two youngest of our seven children.
We never subjected our children to "standardized" testing, but we have college graduates from our home already.
More importantly, we have moral, respectful, obedient, devoted, disciplined, and reverent children who are in the Lord's service. They think right about life and eternity.
Some states require homeschoolers to take the statewide standardized testing, but as far as I know, not even public schools administer nationalized tests to their students. There is the PSAT/SAT and the ACT, but these are college entry exams. The ITBS is the Iowa state test. The TAKS is the Texas state test. The CAT is the California state test. I could go on, but I think I have made my point: Each state’s Board of Education sets their own standardized testing.
I’m in Texas where homeschools are considered private schools. Anyone can homeschool. There is no governing body. Not only that, homeschoolers do not have to inform their intent to homeschool the local ISD or to the state BOE. The ONLY reason a homeschooler should inform the local ISD is to formally withdraw a child from public school. That said, the state of Texas did set a minimum core curriculum for all homeschools to remain legal, which includes the teaching of good citizenship, math, reading, spelling, and grammar. Other states have their own laws governing what’s legal regarding homeschoolers, some of which are extremely regulated. Texas happens to be one of the most, if not the most, unregulated states regarding homeschooling. (FWIW, most homeschoolers (and all of those who I know personally) include far more than just the minimum subjects required to be legal homeschoolers.)
Tests administered for diagnostic purposes are a good idea in any educational scenario. It informs the teacher of placement needs and possible gaps in learning. These are not standardized tests. They are educational tools.
Schools submit to standardized testing to get money from the state. Money is the sole purpose of standardized testing. (Homeschoolers respond, “Thanks, but no thanks.”) With government money comes strings. There are always strings. In the case of education, the string attached is a say in the curriculum. Teachers no longer have the liberty to cater to the needs of the learner. Teachers use what the state tells them to use in order to teach everyone the same way at the same time. The result is ‘cookie cutter’ education, which fits only the norm and leaves behind the gifted as well as the struggling learners. Standardized testing assumes that all students taking the test have had the same educational opportunities and the same scope and sequence, and should therefore score within a specific percentile to be considered ‘passing’ or ‘acceptable.’ The more students who pass, the more money their school gets from the state.