EFA Data Shows Arkansas Homeschoolers Exceeded National Averages on Several Norm-Referenced Tests Last Year

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Testing data from Arkansas’ Educational Freedom Account (EFA) program shows homeschoolers excelled on several different norm-referenced tests last year.

The Arkansas Legislature created the EFA program in 2023 to provide funding for students to pay for an education at a public or private school or through homeschooling. Students who receive EFA funds must take a nationally recognized norm-referenced test to assess their math and reading skills each year. The tests compare students to their peers nationwide who took the same test.

Family Council recently obtained test scores from the Arkansas Department of Education via the Freedom of Information Act, and last week we reported that on average, homeschoolers scored better than private school students in the EFA program on norm-referenced tests.

The EFA program does not require students to take the very same norm-referenced test, but the data we received from the Department of Education shows the three most common tests students took last year were the NWEA Measure of Academic Progress (MAP) test, the Iowa Test of Basic Skills (ITBS), and the Stanford Achievement Test (SAT) 10.

Homeschoolers’ average scores were well above the national averages on each of these tests, and homeschoolers outperformed private school students in Arkansas who took these same tests.

On average, homeschoolers scored in the 64th percentile in math on the MAP test, and the 69th percentile in reading. Private school students scored in the 57th percentile in math and 59th percentile in reading. Hundreds of homeschoolers scored in the top 10% on the MAP test.

On the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, homeschoolers average in the 67th percentile in math and 71st in reading. Private school students averaged in the 60th percentile in math and 62nd in reading. Just like the MAP test, many homeschoolers scored in the top 10% on the ITBS.

The private school SAT 10 testing data Family Council received was not as complete as the data for the ITBS and MAP test, but the homeschool numbers showed homeschoolers performed well above average on the SAT 10 test.

Interestingly, a few homeschoolers participating in the EFA program last year chose to take the SAT or ACT.

On average, homeschoolers who took the SAT scored in the 62nd percentile on math and the 75th percentile on reading. Homeschoolers who took the ACT averaged in the 53rd percentile in math and the 60th percentile on reading.

All of this underscores that both private school students and homeschool students participating in the EFA program are doing exceptionally well, but homeschoolers are excelling under the program.

Norm-referenced tests like these are designed to assess students, but also compare them against their peers nationwide. Arkansas’ homeschoolers in the EFA program are consistently outperforming other students in Arkansas and across the nation taking these same tests.

There have always been a few lawmakers in Little Rock and a few people at the Arkansas Department of Education who oppose homeschooling.

This opposition has been evident with the introduction of two laws to restrict EFA funds for homeschoolers and with proposed Department of Education rules to place new restrictions on homeschoolers in the EFA program.

A lot of homeschoolers are concerned those rules go beyond state law and will make it harder for homeschoolers to educate their children. Lawmakers could vote on those rules soon. The EFA program clearly is working well for homeschool families, and we hope our elected officials will keep it that way.

That’s why we are urging Arkansans to ask their lawmakers to make sure the new EFA rules are fair to homeschool families. If you need help contacting your state legislators, please call or email our office, and we will assist you.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Family Council Joins Letter Urging Congressional Leaders Not to Fund Abortionists

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Above: Planned Parenthood’s facility in Little Rock. Since 2022, the center no longer performs abortions, but it does refer women to abortion facilities in other states. Planned Parenthood’s affiliates nationwide have received hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding over the years. File Photo from 2020.

On Wednesday, Family Council joined more than 50 other pro-life leaders and organizations in a letter calling on Congress not to fund abortionists.

In 2025, Congress placed a moratorium on funding for abortionists, and since then many abortion facilities have closed because they no longer receive federal tax dollars.

But the moratorium is scheduled to expire in July. If Congress does not extend it, abortionists and their affiliates could be eligible for taxpayer funding once again.

The letter Family Council signed points this out, saying:

Planned Parenthood is a prime example of how the abortion industry fills its coffers through taxpayer dollars. According to their 2024-2025 annual report, Planned Parenthood alone received $832 million in taxpayer funding, primarily through federal health programs. Since the moratorium, at least twenty abortion facilities have closed, yet the current trend line is an increase in the number of abortions. Returning more than three-quarters of a billion dollars to an organization that just increased its year-over-year abortion numbers by 8%, and to other providers like it, will only further entrench the abortion industry in American society and politics and return the federal government to being the largest subsidizer of abortion providers. . . .

It is unconscionable that taxpayer funds be disbursed to an industry whose core business is terminating the life of unborn children.

July 4, 2026, marks a key moment in American history. We cannot in good conscience celebrate 250 years of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness by simultaneously federally funding the largest abortion providers in the country in order to facilitate their deadly and destructive businesses.

We urgently request that the Senate and House take up a new reconciliation package to, at minimum, extend the moratorium.

Policymakers must protect taxpayers from subsidizing abortionists. Arkansas has spent years working to do exactly that.

In 1988, voters passed Amendment 68 to the Arkansas Constitution prohibiting public funds from paying for abortion except to save the mother’s life. Following a lawsuit by an abortion clinic in Little Rock, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Amendment 68 could be enforced to whatever extent it did not conflict with federal laws. Practically speaking, this has prevented public funding of abortion in most cases, with the exception of abortions paid for with Medicaid funds in certain circumstances permitted by the federal law.

However, Amendment 68 did not prevent abortionists from receiving state or federal funds for other purposes besides performing abortion.

That’s why in 2015, the Arkansas Legislature passed Act 996 prohibiting the state from awarding grants to abortion providers and their affiliates.

That same year, Governor Asa Hutchinson directed the Department of Human Services to terminate its Medicaid contract with Planned Parenthood after a series of undercover videos showed Planned Parenthood officials discussing the sale of organs and tissue harvested from aborted babies.

Following a lengthy lawsuit, Arkansas was able to block Medicaid funds from Planned Parenthood.

In 2021, the Arkansas Legislature passed a measure keeping abortionists like Planned Parenthood out of public schools after Family Council obtained nearly 1,400 pages of documents that revealed Planned Parenthood had worked in public schools in Pulaski County for several years.

Abortionists like Planned Parenthood have tried again and again to receive taxpayer funds. Arkansas has done a good job keeping them off the public dole. Our federal government needs to do the same. That’s why Family Council is pleased to join so many pro-life leaders in urging Congress to do exactly that.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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Church Attendance Is Up. Here’s Why That Matters.

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Research continues to show church attendance in America is growing.

A recent report from the Hartford Institute for Religion Research found that median in-person worship attendance rose from 65 in 2020 to 70 in 2025. That may sound modest, but researchers called it significant.

The data suggests more congregations are stabilizing or growing rather than shrinking. Volunteers are showing up, and ministers are feeling more optimistic.

This is part of a broader trend we have been watching for a while now.

We have written before about the “quiet revival” taking place among young adults in America and abroad.

Bible sales have soared, young men and women are driving a resurgence in church attendance, and CBS News has reported on the large number of adults — particularly Gen Z — who have been baptized into the Christian faith in recent years.

A recent Gallup poll shows young men are now more likely than young women to say religion is “very important” in their lives.

It’s good to see more Americans returning to church and engaging with scripture.

Of course, as we have said many times, it isn’t enough simply to show up at church or own a Bible, but all of this is very encouraging.

Church congregations help believers live out their faith in daily life. Being part of a local community of believers is an essential part of discipleship.

Hopefully this “quiet revival” is one that will continue to spread.

Articles appearing on this website are written with the aid of Family Council’s researchers and writers.

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