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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