Homeschooled students scored substantially above national norms in reading, language, mathematics, social studies, and science, according to the first peer-reviewed nationwide homeschool achievement study of its kind in approximately 15 years.
The findings arrive as homeschooling remains above pre-pandemic levels nationwide and Texas expands financial and extracurricular opportunities for participating families. Researchers cautioned, however, that the results demonstrate an association—not proof that homeschooling caused the higher scores.
The study, “A Nationwide Study on the Academic Achievement of Homeschool Students and Parents’ Reasons for Homeschooling,” was published online on May 21, 2026, in the peer-reviewed Peabody Journal of Education.
Researchers Brian D. Ray and Braden Hoelzle analyzed standardized achievement scores from homeschool students across the United States. The results were compared with the national norm groups used by the tests, whose midpoints are at the 50th percentile.
The homeschool students’ average scores were:
- 29 percentile points above the norm in reading;
- 25 points above the norm in language;
- 25 points above the norm in mathematics;
- 26 points above the norm in social studies; and
- 27 points above the norm in science.
Those figures mean, for example, that the study’s average homeschool reading score was approximately at the 79th percentile. They do not mean students answered 29% more questions correctly.
The researchers also examined whether achievement varied with family income, parents’ education, or state teacher certification. Those factors generally had little or no practical relationship with students’ scores, according to the paper.
Ray is president of the National Home Education Research Institute, while Hoelzle has been affiliated with NHERI and Frisco Independent School District.
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