This sane and constructive piece by Indiana University education professor Robert Kunzman says that many states are following the wrong approach when it comes to "regulating" home-schoolers, trying to control the "credentials" of home-schooling parents, to decree what curriculum they should teach and more. This doesn't work, he says, and fosters unnecessary controversy and political conflict. In his view, any external regulation of home schooling needs to satisfy three conditions: "Vital interests of children or society must be at stake. General consensus should exist on standards for meeting those interests. And there needs to be an effective way to measure whether those standards are met." He concludes that "basic skills testing" of home-schooled children fulfills all three conditions and that states and districts should otherwise butt out. You can find it (for a fee) here.
Robert Kunzman, Indiana University
Theory and Research in Education
2009
