Guest post by Amy Hopkins Raab
June 28, 2015
I think we all agree that math and science education are sometimes lacking in public schools. Everyone wants public schools to deliver better instruction in science and math to more students. The questions for us today are whether the combined agendas of Project Lead the Way (PLTW) and the College Board are best for homeschoolers, and whether our students will find themselves bound to those agendas through the proposed changes to Indiana’s diploma options.
1. Should your Indiana homeschooled teens be participating in PLTW if they wish to go into science, technology, engineering, or math careers? Or should your future STEM student carry on with his or her traditional college prep coursework? Both options are currently available in Indiana. Homeschooled students may attend career centers such as Area 31 in Wayne Township, Indianapolis, which host PLTW courses, or they may ignore this opportunity and pursue their math and science studies at home, in co-ops, or through dual enrollment.
2. Will PLTW and AP courses soon become the only way for high school students to achieve a newly-coveted credential that will help toward col
lege admissions, potentially excluding homeschoolers? Should we be climbing onto the PLTW bandwagon as homeschoolers?
This US News and World Report article from May 13, 2015 explains the College Board’s plan to integrate Project Lead the Way and Advanced Placement (AP) courses toward a new credential that will be listed on students’ transcripts for the benefit of college admissions officers. This credential is meant to be as influential toward admissions as high SAT or ACT scores. In the article, titled College Board Launches Stem Credential Initiative, Anne Jones, the senior vice president and chief program officer of PLTW is quoted as saying that PLTW will bring fluency in math and science, when combined with the subsequent AP courses and training available through the new integrated system of applied and academic experience.
As PLTW gains popularity and familiarity within the public education system, I want to highlight the point that PLTW Vice President Anne Jones is making: PLTW is meant to help students achieve fluency in math and science, and prepare them for college and careers, when followed by AP coursework and specific training. Nobody has made the claim that PLTW on its own is a college prep track. PLTW does not take the place of rigorous academic coursework in math and science for the future STEM college student.
PLTW courses on their own, which our homeschooled students could pursue at career centers, don’t really prepare kids for STEM undergrad studies. Purdue University, on the admissions requirements web page, describes PLTW as a “career exploration” project and reminds applicants that PLTW completion does not substitute for any of the academic coursework required for admittance. Purdue wants four years of college-prep math and three years of college-prep lab science (the allowed courses are specified).
My second-eldest son, a rising high school junior who wants to go into biomedical engineering, considered enrolling in our local career center in order to take PLTW courses in biomedical sciences in eleventh and twelfth grades. If he had done so, he could have joined HOSA, an organization for future health professionals, and enjoyed access to internships and scholarships through both PLTW and HOSA that would have looked very impressive on his high school transcript. Indiana law would have allowed him to attend. The career center welcomes homeschoolers with open arms. At first glance, the program looked like an excellent opportunity.
But what’s the catch? The career center requires half the school day. If my son is there doing those PLTW projects, how does he find time to complete four years of college prep math, three to four years of lab sciences, four years of English, three years of social studies, and two to four years of foreign language studies? As an experienced homeschool parent who has already graduated one student, I’ve taught or facilitated all of those courses. I know exactly what it takes to prepare a student for college, and my son can’t spare half the day taking courses that are not college prep. To attend PLTW courses would mean less time for the types of math and science courses that he needs to succeed in college.
What does my son lose by this decision to carry on with his traditional, rigorous coursework at home instead of attending PLTW courses, and what does he gain? He misses out on a PLTW connection that is soon to be seen as very valuable in the state of Indiana. He misses out on HOSA membership, and internships and scholarships. On the other hand, he gains genuine calculus and advanced physics studies that will authentically prepare him for his college coursework, so the choice is clear: We won’t be trading physics for PLTW.
My son can make this decision right now in 2015. As Indiana’s diploma and college readiness system works at this very moment, he loses nothing substantive by homeschooling through high school. He gains a great education, and he is able to meet or exceed the requirements for an Indiana Core 40 Honors Diploma. So far, Indiana colleges have welcomed homeschoolers who attain my son’s level of study and who can verify their grades with excellent SAT scores.
Will my youngest child (class of 2023) feel confident in making the same decision to wholly homeschool through high school? Or will the proposed diploma changes in Indiana cause him to wonder if he’s risking a valuable piece for his transcript – the credential to be obtained through the PLTW+ AP track? Will he wonder if he should abandon his rigorous, independent and preferred homeschool study methods for public school methodology and curriculum just to make sure he can go to college to pursue a STEM career? I wonder if Indiana’s best colleges and universities will still welcome outliers, such as homeschoolers, who are genuinely prepared for college but who took a different road.
Homeschooling parents, please consider whether you support these proposed changes to Indiana’s diploma options. Do you want your child to have to choose between Workforce Diploma, College and Career Ready Diploma, Honors Diploma…or Homeschool Diploma?
Please visit the website of the Indiana Department of Education and take a survey on this topic. Let your legislators know if you object to the proposed changes and if you want to be sure your homeschooled students will not be penalized by the new credentialing plans. Let’s stay vigilant on homeschooling issues, for our students of today and for our grandchildren.
Amy Hopkins Raab is Mike’s wife and the mother of four sons. She’s enjoyed homeschooling her boys since 1999 and is glad to have gotten the eldest through high school graduation and college acceptance! The earlier years were more fun but the latter years have been the most rewarding, as the parents are watching the teens learn the way we wish we’d been taught: At home, surrounded by family and music and the best books, and with Christ as the center of all. Academic excellence is a primary focus of our homeschool, but true wisdom comes from God. (James 3:13-18)