“Investigator” Studies Connecticut’s Homeschooling Debate
A current article by Brandon Whiting for CT Inside Investigator takes a deep dive into the issues surrounding Connecticut’s largely unregulated homeschooling system. He states, “Homeschooling rates have increased dramatically in recent years, surging to historic highs since the onset of COVID-19. Census data shows the percentage of Connecticut families who homeschooled increased from 2.5 percent in spring 2020 to 7.5 percent in fall 2020.”
According to a report from the CT Office of the Child Advocate (OCA), Connecticut is one of eleven states with the least government oversight of homeschooling. The report based its conclusion on several criteria: “According to home-schooling law/regulation clearinghouse sites and OCA’s own review, certain states require a parent to keep records of a child’s progress, submit an affidavit regarding intent to home school, require annual renewal notifications, or other requirements. Several states have a form of ongoing assessment requirement, qualifications of proposed home-school teacher (typically a high school diploma or equivalent), or other requirements for special-needs students,” read the report. “Connecticut statutes are silent on all of the elements identified herein.”
The article dwells at length on questions of child abuse, and a report by CT Child Advocate Sarah Egan, saying: “There must be a safety net to protect children who are victims of abuse and neglect from being withdrawn from the safe harbor and visibility of school and removed to a less or even potentially non-visible environment”. “Even for children who have never been victims of abuse or neglect, there must be some mechanism for ensuring that children are actually being homeschooled.”
Pro-homeschooling advocates reportedly reacted sharply to Egan’s recommendations of greater oversight, calling for her resignation. (Egan did, in fact, step down from her role in September to work for a non-profit advocacy group.) They pointed out that abuse rates are similar among all groups, regardless of schooling, and that it is the fault of the Department of Children and Families (DCF) if abuse complaints are not followed up.
In an interview with Inside Investigator, Egan is quoted: “People don’t want unwarranted government intrusion, into private family decisions about where and how kids are educated. But that being said, we do need to talk about what happens in the absence of any framework for the minimum of, is the child even being homeschooled?”
Pro-regulation educators interviewed for the article included Fran Rabinowitz, Executive Director of the Connecticut Association of Public School Superintendents (CAPSS). “Rabinowitz made her stance on homeschooling abundantly clear, saying that she disagrees with it in principle, though she “won’t dispute the fact that some [homeschool groups] are very well organized and do an excellent job.” She too, also denies there being any evidence of a direct correlation between homeschooling and abuse. One of the primary reasons she opposes homeschooling is her belief in the need for children to be acclimated to working and collaborating with people from all walks of life.
“Generally speaking, I think that children learn a great deal from each other in the classroom, just like we do as adults,” said Rabinowitz. “I think to be successful in our world, you need to be able to collaborate with others, work with others, accept others who are very different from you, and understand how to get along with all kinds of people, and I think some of that can be lacking in certain homeschool organizations.”
“If I’m honest, I think we believe that there is a need for more accountability in homeschooling,” said Rabinowitz. “…some students are just – they disappear, and we don’t know where they are. Parents say they’re going to homeschool and that’s the last we hear.”
The Investigator also interviewed homeschooling advocate Ashley West, a Connecticut resident who is homeschooling her 5 children. The article states: “West cited a litany of reasons for why she decided to homeschool; she finds it allows her to provide better accommodations for Leo and Bella, who have ADHD, as well as allows her children a flexible schedule and customized curriculum. West appreciated the fact that it has given her children the freedom to learn at their own pace, and the ability for her to take them on field trips, teach them home and life skills, and spend more time with them as their parent. West also said it helped alleviate her safety concerns regarding bullying, peer pressure and school shootings.” Above all, however, West’s main reason for homeschooling was the freedom it provides her to guide her children’s education.
According to West, one of the impacts of Covid on homeschooling was that pre-Covid, many more families were homeschooling to provide their children with faith-based education. During Covid, and since then, new homeschoolers have tended to be secular.
Homeschooling advocates also commonly criticize standardized testing. Deborah Stevenson, a former home educator and the founder of the National Home Education Legal Defense (NHELD), is quoted: “Standardized testing may be useful for a group of students who all are learning the same materials, at the same time, in the same manner, taught by the same system. “Standardized testing rarely is useful when students are learning based on their own needs, using materials geared to meet their individual needs, learning at their own individual timeline, taught freely without any artificial constraints.”
The article concluded by citing the political difficulties experienced both in Connecticut and elsewhere when trying to advance legislation addressing homeschooling concerns. While regulation proponents believe that the State should do something, it is hard to define what that could be, much less what could be acceptable to homeschooling advocates.
