Learning the Wrong Lesson

By Shane Vander Hart - Posted at Truth in American Education:

I read an article in the Grand Forks Herald today and it appears that North Dakota Superintendent of Public Instruction Kristen Baesler learned the wrong lesson about the number of homeschoolers doubling in her state.

John Hageman reports:

There were 3,025 home-schooled children in North Dakota last year, according to a recent report from the state Department of Public Instruction, up from the 1,470 in the 2008 school year. But state Superintendent Kirsten Baesler said the actual number of home-schooled kids is likely higher, given some blind spots in the data. 

Lawmakers, national surveys, state education officials and home-school advocates offered varying reasons for the trend, including bullying at schools, frustration with Common Core standards and the availability of educational resources online. 

North Dakota’s trend also appears to follow a national shift. A 2017 federal report estimated the number of home-schooled students in the U.S. more than doubled between 1999 and 2012, jumping from 850,000 to nearly 1.8 million. 

“There’s an increasing desire from parents across the United States to really make sure that their child has an individualized, personalized learning system,” Baesler said. “Public schools are moving in that direction.”

Ah yes, personalized learning, Jane Robbins warned us in September about this. What homeschoolers believe about “personalized learning” and what educrats like Baesler think it is is not the same thing... 

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