Matt, I think the question is a matter of increment. Looking back at two courses of comparable difficulty, I can’t say my educational experience was more effective in a sophomore engineering class of 40 than my freshman chemistry section which topped 200. I don’t think reducing class sizes from, say, twenty-five to fifteen would make much difference in the primary/secondary education world, either.

What you see with home education (and in some private schools, too), though, is a reduction nearly to the point of one-on-one tutorial instruction. Not only do you have more and deeper interaction between student, teacher, and material, you also have the opportunity to adapt the curriculum as you identify interests and needs of the student during the year.? It would be remarkable if it didn’t produce improved results.

The other factor in home education, of course, is the ongoing relationship between the teacher (i.e. parent) and the student. That, like the miniscule class size, would be difficult to reproduce in the institutional setting.? Many homeschoolers point out that no matter where your children go to school, the parents are making a choice about who will spend the most time interacting with their children’s development, so it always pays to consider who’s standing at the front of the room.