The Washington D.C. Superintendent wants homeschoolers to be more accountable to school officials. Until now, homeschool parents were free from restrictions when it came to homeschooling their kids. Unfortunately, however, a tragic incident where a mother, Banita Jacks, claimed to be homeschooling her kids, and they ended up dying, put school administrators in the D.C. area up in arms.
New regulations would require homeschoolers to let school representatives into the home and give them the authority to order kids back into the schools if they are unsatisfied with a child’s education. These laws would rival those of states that are most restrictive when it comes to homeschooling.
Meanwhile, the schools that the children could be forced back into are hardly accountable to parents and children. In a Washington Post Article on Fixing D.C.’s Schools, recent graduates speak out about problems that range from unappetizing food to low quality of education. They ask questions like “Why don’t we get the same education as the surrounding states?” “Why are we the lowest performing school?” “How can we learn when we don’t have the correct pages, and don’t have enough books? How can we learn from that?” In short, the students were unhappy with the outcome of their education. (And these were the ones who managed to graduate… many do not.)
Yet, parents who are working to create the best learning environment possible for their children are being held accountable to school district with such poor results. In the comments, section of the Examiner.com article on this issue entitled “Changes to rules governing homeschooling irk advocates”; one reader comments, “how can failing school systems properly judge homeschoolers?” I would think that if accountability were so important to the D.C. superintendent’s office, that they would first try being accountable to parents and students. Perhaps then, they would have a lot less homeschoolers to be worried about.
(This essay is an exercise in vocabulary. I encourage you to pick a new word each day and have your children to write an essay. Choose the number of required words according to grade level, age, or ability. ) For more words of the day see: syncretism, autodidact, extreme and mediocrity and more.
Read:
Homeschooling in Washington D.C.
http://homeschooling.families.com/blog/homeschooling-in-washington-dc
Homeschooling Growth is Directly in Proportion to Bad Schools
http://homeschooling.families.com/blog/homeschooling-growth-is-directly-in-proportion-to-bad-schools
Homeschool Growth Directly in Proportion to Bad Schools Part 2 http://homeschooling.families.com/blog/homeschool-growth-directly-in-proportion-to-bad-schools-part-2