Home school by the numbers / LJWorld.com

Learning outside the lines: Home schooling in Kansas

Home school by the numbers

The National Center for Education Statistics in 2003 updated its demographic data about home-schoolers, providing a snapshot for who chooses home education in the United States.

Number of home-schoolers

Year	Number of students	Home schooled	Percent
1999	50,188,000	85,0000	1.7%
2003	50,707,000	1,096,000	2.2%
Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Demographics of home school families (2003)

Grade equivalent	Number	Percent
Kindergarten	98,000	9%
Grades 1-3	21,4000	19.7%
Grades 4-5	160,000	14.7%
Grades 6-8	302,000	27.7%
Grades 9-12	315,000	28.9%

Race/ethnicity	Number	Percent
White	843,000	76.9%
Black	103,000	9.4%
Hispanic	59,000	5.4%
Other	91,000	8.3%

Children in household	Number	Percent
One child	110,000	10.0%
Two children	306,000	27.9%
Three or more children	679,000	62%

Parents in household	Number	Percent
Two parents	886,000	81.1%
One parent	196,000	17.9%
Nonparental guardians	14,000	1.3%

Parents' participation in labor force	Number	Percent
Two parents, both in labor force	274,000	25%
Two parents, one in labor force	594,000	54.2%
One parent in labor force	174,000	15.9%
No parent in labor force	54,000	4.9%

Household income	Number	Percent
$25,000 or less	283,000	25.8%
$25,001-$50,000	311,000	28.4%
$50,001-$75,000	264,000	24.1%
$75,001 or more	238,000	21.7%

Parents' highest educational attainment	Number	Percent
High school diploma or less	269,000	24.5%
Vo-tech degree or some college	338,000	30.8%
Bachelor’s degree	274,000	25%
Graduate/professional school	215,000	19.6%

Urbanicity	Number		Percent
Urban	794,000		72.4%
Rural	302,000		27.5%

Region	Number	Percent
Northeast	168,000	15.3%
South	445,000	40.6%
Midwest	238,000	21.7%
West	245,000	22.4%
Source: National Center for Education Statistics

Average ACT Statistics

Incoming home school freshmen at Kansas University have scored above average on their ACT scores when compared with the general population.

Year	Overall scores	Home school scores	Average KU scores*	Average KU home school scores
2003	20.8	22.5	24.1	27.3
2004	20.9	22.6	24.3	26.4
2005	20.9	22.5	24.4	27.6
Source: Kansas University, College Board			* Incoming freshmen

Number of home school students at KU

The number of home school students at Kansas University has increased in the past few years, though the numbers still make up a small portion of the overall student body.