Overlapping Student Environments: An Examination of the Homeschool Connection and Its Impact on Achievement

Abstract

This study of the impact of the homeschool connection on achievement was part of a larger interpretive case study which examined high achieving readers in a low performing school. The primary participants in the study were 7 African American 6th graders. Caregivers’ thoughts on education and their aspirations for their children were examined through the lens of social reproduction theories, cultural-ecological theory, and the notions of cultural capital and habitus. Discourse analysis, analytic induction, and the constant-comparative method were used to analyze the data. Findings show disconnect among caregivers’ aspirations for their children, how these aspirations are fostered, and student achievement.

Keywords

minority education social incongruities homeschool interactions

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