What Research Says About Homeschooling and Success, or not, in Adulthood
The key findings are as follow:
- 50% of peer-reviewed studies on success into adulthood (including college) show adults who were home educated succeed and perform statistically significantly better than those who attended institutional schools (Ray, 2017, 2023). The other studies generally show no significant differences.
- Graduates of home education participate in local community service more frequently than do the general population (e.g., Seiver & Pope, 2022).
- Long-term homeschoolers are more likely than others to do unpaid, volunteer work and to volunteer with a religious organization other than their church/congregation (Cheng & Watson, 2025).
- The home educated go to college at a similar rate and succeed at college at an equal or higher rate than the general population.
- By adulthood, the home educated internalize the values and beliefs of their parents at a higher rate than average (Ray, 2022).
- Adults who were homeschooled are more politically tolerant than the public schooled in the limited research done so far (e.g., Cheng, 2014).
General Interpretation of Research On Homeschool Learner Outcomes
It is possible that homeschooling causes the positive traits reported above. However, the research designs to date do not conclusively “prove” or substantiate that homeschooling causes these things. One hypothesis is that the positive findings might be due to the demographics of the homeschool students and families in the studies. The “sources” (articles) below explain limitations and caveats regarding the studies. More methodologically stronger research needs to be done to find whether homeschooling is what leads to or causes better outcomes. At the same time, there is no empirical evidence that homeschooling overall causes negative things compared to institutional schooling. Future research may better answer the question of causation.
References
Cheng, Albert. (2014). Does homeschooling or private schooling promote political intolerance? Evidence from a Christian university. Journal of School Choice: International Research and Reform, 8(1), 49-68.
Cheng, Albert; & Watson, Angela. (2025). Diverse outcomes for a diverse population: Findings about homeschooled adults from the Cardus Education Survey, https://www.cardus.ca/
Ray, Brian D. (2017). A systematic review of the empirical research on selected aspects of homeschooling as a school choice. Journal of School Choice: International Research and Reform, 11(4), 604-621.
Ray, Brian D. (2022). The transmission of culture, religion, and affinity for four school choices to adults who were homeschooled, public schooled, and private Schooled, https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4046167
Ray, Brian D. (2023). A systematic review of 35 years of empirical research on the learner outcomes of homeschooling: Any evidence to ban home education? A presentation at the annual International School Choice and Reform Conference, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, January 14, 2023.
Seiver, Jillene Grove; & Pope, Elisa A. (2022). The kids are alright II: social engagement in young adulthood as a function of k-12 schooling type, personality traits, and parental education level. Home School Researcher, 37(2), 1-9.
Copyright © 2025 Brian D. Ray, Ph.D. National Home Education Research Institute