May Is #Homeschool Awareness Month

Homeschooled students frequently outperform public school peers on standardized tests:

• They typically score 15 to 25 (or up to 30) percentile points higher than public school students (who average around the 50th percentile). This places many homeschoolers in the 65th–80th percentile range overall.
• This advantage appears across subjects (reading, language, math, science, social studies) and holds in many studies regardless of parents’ formal education level or household income.
• On college entrance exams: Homeschoolers often average higher SAT scores (e.g., around 1190 vs. ~1060 for public school students) and ACT scores (e.g., 26.5 vs. 21).
• Systematic reviews of peer-reviewed studies show 78% find statistically significant positive effects for homeschoolers on academic achievement, with most others showing no difference or mixed results.

College and Higher Education Outcomes

Homeschoolers show strong transitions to college:

• College attendance rates are often reported higher for homeschoolers (e.g., ~74% of homeschool graduates aged 18–24 take at least some college classes, compared to lower rates like 44–46% in the general population in certain studies).
• College acceptance rates: Around 87% for homeschoolers vs. 68% for public school graduates in some compilations.
• Once in college, homeschoolers tend to earn higher first-year GPAs (e.g., 3.41 vs. 3.12) and maintain solid performance, with some studies showing equal or higher graduation rates (e.g., 66.7% vs. 57.5% in one institutional analysis).
• Colleges increasingly recruit homeschoolers actively, and admission officers often rate them as academically prepared or better on average.

Social, Emotional, and Psychological Development

• A large majority of studies (e.g., 87% in systematic reviews) show positive or better outcomes for homeschoolers on measures of social skills, emotional development, and psychological well-being compared to institutionally schooled students.
• Homeschoolers often participate in extracurriculars, community activities, and leadership roles at rates that support healthy socialization. Concerns about isolation are not strongly supported in the bulk of empirical research.

Success in Adulthood

• About 50% of peer-reviewed studies on adult success (including college performance) show homeschool graduates performing statistically significantly better than those from conventional schools; most others show no significant difference.
• Civic engagement: Homeschool alumni (especially long-term ones) are more likely to volunteer, participate in community service, donate to charities, and engage in certain civic behaviors than the general population.
• Employment and income: Rates are often comparable, though some data show slightly lower full-time employment or above-median household income for long-term homeschoolers in young adulthood (ages 24–39), potentially linked to lifestyle choices like earlier family formation.
• Other positives include higher political tolerance in limited studies and strong self-reported satisfaction with their education.