School Choice in the United States by Gender: Only Slight Differences

A new report from the U.S. Department of Education offers the most recent data on students who are homeschooled and those who attend public charter schools. The report also documents the historical trends in homeschooling and charter school enrollments. Some of the data is broken down by gender.

In 2016, 3.3 percent of all students ages 5 to 17 were homeschooled. This is about double the percentage from the turn of the century. However, there has been a slight downward trend in homeschooling since 2012.

For girls, 3.5 percent of all students ages 5 to 17 were homeschooled in 2016. For boys, 3.0 percent were homeschooled.

In the 2016-17 academic year, girls made up 48.5 percent of all students in the nation’s public schools. But girls were 50.4 percent of all students enrolled in public charter schools. In the 2010-11 academic year, boys were a majority of the students in public charter schools.

Some 9.5 percent of all girls were enrolled in private schools. For boys, 8.9 percent were enrolled in private schools.

The full report, School Choice in the United States: 2019, may be downloaded by clicking here.