Homeschool Probation
- Mandy Facchin
- Jul 24, 2021
- 4 min read
Updated: Jul 26, 2021
If you're anything like me, the prospect of reporting to your local school district is fairly daunting.
We have all heard (or at least can imagine) the nightmares: the district claiming they did not receive communications from parents and reporting them for truancy; demanding documents from homeschooling parents that simply are not legally required; reporting families to Child Protective Services for educational negligence. And I don't know about you, but I do NOT want school representatives coming to my house for home visits or any other reason. The possibility of probation sounds intimidating and invasive and the idea alone is enough to turn people off from choosing homeschool life. Today I want to clear up just a few things regarding home instruction probation in New York State.
According to the Home Instruction Q&A page on the NYSED website:
What action should be taken by the district if parents do not submit any evaluation?
If phone calls or letters do not elicit the information, the district should notify parents by registered mail that the evaluation is due and set a reasonable date for its submission. If the information is not forthcoming, the district is without evidence that instruction has been taking place. In that case, the district would be obligated to report the case to the central registry as a case of suspected educational neglect.
So, first things first: You MUST submit an evaluation report (and all other required reports) to the school district. That's fairly straight forward and obvious. If you don't, there will be Trouble with a capital T.
Under what circumstances is a home instruction program placed on probation? As described below, the circumstances depend upon the option selected by the parents for complying with the annual assessment requirement of subdivision (h) of Section 100.10 of the Regulations of the Commissioner. If parents submit test scores for an achievement test, the program will be placed on probation only if the composite score of the student is below the thirty-third percentile on national norms or the score fails to reflect one academic year of growth when compared to a prior test. The student's score on individual test subscores should not be considered in determining whether the program should be placed on probation.
If parents submit a written narrative, the program will be placed on probation only if the evaluator certifies that the student has not made adequate academic progress.
Under what circumstances may a school district require home visits?A school district may require home visits, upon three days' written notice to the parents, only when the home instruction program is on probation. Under any other circumstances, a school official may request a home visit but a parent would not be required to consent to the request.
So what did we just learn? Depending on which type of annual assessment you are conducting for your child (achievement test or written narrative), then the conditions for probation and home visits will change.
If you are doing an achievement test: You simply must report that your student achieved "ABOVE THE THIRTY-THIRD PERCENTILE ON NATIONAL NORMS AND REFLECTS AT LEAST ONE ACADEMIC YEAR OF GROWTH COMPARED TO THE PRIOR YEAR'S ASSESSMENT." I am not a lawyer and do not take this as legal advice, but I see absolutely NO need to get into any more detail than that. YOU are your child's teacher. As far as I know, you are not required to disclose the specific test score or any additional information that is not required by law. IF you disclose to the school district that your child has not made adequate academic progress, they can put you on probation. That would kind of be a silly thing to do, wouldn't it? My personal policy is to disclose the bare legal minimum!
If you are doing a written narrative: If your child's evaluator certifies in their report that the student has not made adequate academic progress, you can be placed on probation. So in order to avoid probation, the written narrative MUST state (in one way or another) "THE STUDENT HAS MADE ADEQUATE ACADEMIC PROGRESS." Who is to say what "adequate academic progress" looks like for your child, anyway? As your child's teacher, you are the one who makes this call! I would think it is unwise to declare that your home instruction program has resulted in inadequate academic progress...
But who conducts the evaluation? This is usually conducted by either the parent or members of a homeschool co-op (aka "a home instruction peer review panel" in DOE lingo). The evaluator must be approved by the Superintendent. I have seen examples of parents submitting this information in their IHIP or your third quarterly report with a statement along the lines of "your silence implies consent." For example, "Annual assessments will be conducted and evaluated by the child's parents [include your names] in the form of a written narrative [or achievement test].
May a parent administer a standardized test or prepare the written narrative of assessment?
Yes. With the consent of the superintendent, a parent may perform these actions.
What is a home instruction peer review panel and what is its function under the regulations?
A home instruction peer review panel is an advisory group of home instructing parents who prepare a written narrative of a student's achievement. Members of such a panel may be chosen by the parent with the consent of the superintendent.
Personally, I would not go out of my way to ask for permission to name yourself as the evaluator - simply state in writing who you have chosen to do the evaluations (do they even read all those letters anyway??). If they don't reach out to you to discuss your choice further, then you should be golden.
And that's my own understanding of the NYS home instruction law, as it pertains to probation! If you encounter any problems with your district, consider joining HSLDA for legal advice and support.
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