Abstract TAYLOR, BENJAMIN ROSS. The
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! ! ! Abstract TAYLOR, BENJAMIN ROSS. The Educational Beliefs of Homeschoolers: A Q- Methodology Study (Under the direction of Dr. Matthew Militello). Home education, as part of a larger school-choice movement, continues to grow at a healthy clip. Currently, this school-choice option accounts for nearly 5% of school-age children in North Carolina and increases each year. The purpose of this study is to better understand the educational beliefs of those homeschooling parent-teachers who live, in what many consider, a world-class school district. Q-Methodology, a mixed-methods research design, was utilized to study the subjective opinions of home educators. Interviews were conducted to build a deck, or concourse, of statements. Then, forty homeschooling parents sorted the cards according to their own beliefs about education. Post-sort interviews were also conducted to elicit explanations about participant sorts. These Q-Sorts were factor analyzed to reveal statistical correlations among the homeschoolers. The first research question states: “What are homeschooling parents’ beliefs about education?” Data analysis indicated three statistically significant factors: 1) The Higher-Purpose Homeschoolers; The Independent-Humanist Homeschoolers; The Whole-Child Homeschoolers. Secondly, along with these three factors, data emerged as to why these parents choose to home educate. Finally, David Labaree’s How to Succeed in School Without Really Learning: The Credentials Race in American Education served as a theoretical framework to examine homeschooler’s beliefs about the purposes of an education. The findings of this study generate insights into homeschooling and provide researchers, policy makers, and practitioners information about this growing school-choice option. ! ! ! © Copyright 2012 by Benjamin Ross Taylor All Rights Reserved The Educational Beliefs of Homeschoolers: A Q-Methodology Study by Benjamin Ross Taylor A dissertation submitted to the Graduate Faculty of North Carolina State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Education Educational Administration and Supervision Raleigh, North Carolina 2012 APPROVED BY: Dr. Matthew Militello Dr. Steven Amendum Committee Chair Dr. Kenneth Brinson, Jr. Dr. Lance Fusarelli ii Dedication I dedicate this dissertation to my wife, Kelly, and my boys, Nate and Grady, who have lovingly supported me through this process. Thank you for sharing this journey with me. iii Biography Ben Taylor began his career in education working for Dr. Spencer Kagan. For nearly a decade, Ben worked with Dr. Kagan and the company as it grew to include books and teacher materials on topics such as cooperative learning theory, multiple intelligences, critical thinking, and brain-based education. Ben helped create, edit, and format the books and materials and helped facilitate teacher trainings. Ben started his teaching career at Southern California Christian High School in Orange, CA. He then worked at McFarland Middle School, Rosedale Middle School, and Dana Hills High School in California before moving to North Carolina. In North Carolina, Ben taught at Apex Middle School. During his time in the classroom, Ben had the pleasure of teaching English language arts and history/social studies to students in grades 6-12 in both California and North Carolina. In 2008, Ben joined the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction as an instructional coach serving low-performing middle and high schools. At NCDPI, Ben has had the opportunity to work with numerous counties and schools to improve student achievement and support teachers in their professional journeys. In 2011, Ben published a teacher manual entitled Vocabulary: Making It Memorable through Kagan Publishing and Professional Development. iv Acknowledgements Thank you to my professors at North Carolina State University. Throughout coursework and the dissertation process, I have felt challenged and supported. You have made this journey interesting, rewarding, and intellectually stimulating. Dr. Militello, who challenged me one summer to read a shopping bag full of impactful educational books including Labaree’s work. Thank you for introducing me to Q and challenging me to explain my ideas more clearly and explore my thoughts more deeply. Your sense of humor and your positive attitude has meant much. Dr. Fusarelli, who showed me, first and foremost, that a shovel full of sand is where we start. Thank you for guiding me through the process of learning how to conduct research, and, opening up the world of educational politics. Dr. Brinson, who guided me with patient questions and open-ended answers about my own career and options in education. Thank you also for teaching me some magic: An assignment is finished when it is finished, not when it hits a certain page length. This simple statement has had profound effects on my philosophy of teaching and learning. Dr. Amendum, who provided strong, constructive feedback to me during the dissertation process. Your comments during my defense helped me tighten up my thinking, and ultimately, my final dissertation. During this process, I met homeschooling parents in their homes, at restaurants, libraries, bookstores, and cooperative meetings. I deeply appreciate the time and energy they gave to help the research process. I appreciate the open-minded gesture to allow a state employee and career educator into their lives. Thank you to the many homeschooling parents v who allowed me to interrupt lessons to ask them questions about their beliefs and to sort a deck of cards. You provided a source of hope and encouragement daily. My favorite colleague at the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, Debbie Lemon. Thanks for sharing your dissertation pitfalls and the potholes with me so I didn’t have to learn many firsthand. My father-in-law, Tex, for your thoughtful questions and revisions, and being forced to listen too long sometimes as I rambled about courses, research, and writing. My sister, Carol, who over the past few years has had two bone-marrow transplants and multiple radiation and chemotherapy sessions, proved that the difficulties with writing and researching pale in comparison to fighting cancer. I look forward to watching you develop into an exceptional teacher. My mom and dad, Linda and Lanny, for their unwavering support in my efforts in school over many years. I hope this bit of an acknowledgement somehow provides solace for a carpet full of surfboard wax. My wife, Kelly, who dared homeschool our sons for two years. Thank you for knowing, better than anyone else, what our boys needed. Thank you also for opening up my eyes to what an education can truly mean. And, thank you for taking care of everything else as I typed, transcribed, interviewed, and sometimes screamed, through this process. This accomplishment is truly a reflection of you. My boys, Nate and Grady, for reminding me each and every day why the fight for better schools and better education, aligned to significant purposes, should never stop. vi Table of Contents LIST OF TABLES ............................................................................................................ xi LIST OF FIGURES ......................................................................................................... xiii CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................1 Background of the Study .........................................................................................1 Statement of the Problem .........................................................................................5 Purpose of the Study ................................................................................................7 Research Questions ..................................................................................................7 Definition of Terms and Language ..........................................................................7 Significance of the Study .........................................................................................8 Significance for Policy Makers ....................................................................8 Significance for Practitioners .....................................................................10 Significance for Researchers ......................................................................11 Overview of the Research Methodology ...............................................................11 Conceptual Framework ..........................................................................................12 Chapter Summary ..................................................................................................14 Organization of the Study ......................................................................................15 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ..........................................................................16 Introduction ............................................................................................................16 A Brief History of Modern Homeschooling ..........................................................17 The Early Fight: the 1970s to the mid-1980s .............................................18 Building a Mainstream Movement: the mid-1980s to the 1990s ...............20 Growing into the Future: the 2000s to the Present ....................................23 Demographics: Who Homeschools? ......................................................................24