Education professor conducts homeschooling research

Robert Kunzman, associate professor in the School of Education, has helped establish the International Center for Home Education Research, which has an extensive database of information concerning homeschooling.

“The website is the largest collection of academic scholarship on homeschooling that’s freely available anywhere in the world,” Kunzman said in a press release.

The website can be searched by topic, author or type of publication. The center brings together premier homeschooling researchers from across the globe.

“The center grew out of an ongoing collaboration with several colleagues across the world who study homeschooling and who have expressed a desire to create a network of scholars who can exchange ideas, share research and contribute more to the public and policy conversations about homeschooling,” he said.

According to the U.S. Department of Education, 1.5 million students were homeschooled in 2007, a 74 percent increase since 1999.  

“The members of the center have more than 65 combined years of homeschool research experience,” Kunzman said. “We’re all interested in questions about what homeschoolers are doing and what’s the significance of it for their children and for broader society.A research center that serves as a clearinghouse for research and an opportunity for scholarly dialogue and collaboration can be an effective tool for contributing to the public conversation.”

More information can be found at icher.org.

— Sydney Murray