Mathcounts Reinstates Homeschool Teams
Contact: Ian Slatter, Home School Legal Defense Association, 540-338-8663
PURCELLVILLE, Va., Aug. 23 /Standard Newswire/ -- Last Friday, Mathcounts, a prestigious foundation dedicated to advancing math skills among middle school students, partially reversed its August 17th ban on homeschool teams.
For the upcoming 2010-11 school year homeschool teams who participated in last year's Mathcounts competition will be grandfathered in and allowed to compete this year. "We appreciate Mathcounts making this change," said Michael Smith, president of HSLDA. "Many homeschoolers were already hard at work preparing for this year's competition," he added.
The initial ban on homeschool teams stemmed from Mathcounts' difficulties identifying homeschool competitors and ensuring that students from public, private, and homeschools are treated equally.
In order to make sure all options were being considered representatives from HSLDA and Mathcounts met on Friday, August 20th. The policy change was the result of the meeting as well as a commitment to find a long-term solution which would allow homeschoolers to compete as teams.
Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) is a 27-year-old, 85,000 member non-profit organization and the preeminent association advocating the legal right of parents to homeschool their children.