Ohio
Plan Now for End-of-Year Assessments
In past years, Home School Legal Defense Association has resolved a number of problems arising from end-of-year assessments. This article is designed to help those families who choose the alternative of standardized testing for their children’s assessment.
Sometimes a family takes the standardized test too late to meet the district’s deadline; other times the family administers the wrong type of test; and other times the family simply wasn’t aware of the proper test-taking procedure until it was too late. We urge our member families not to be caught by surprise with testing problems at the end of the year, but rather to begin planning now. Here are a few things to keep in mind if your family elects to test at the end of the 1998-99 school year.
- What type of test should we administer? Home schooling families should use a recent version of any nationally-normed standardized achievement test. An older version of a standardized test, such as the CAT test provided by Christian Liberty Academy, does not meet this requirement unless you get the superintendent’s specific approval to use such a test.
- When should we test? This is extremely important! Because you must have the results by the end of August, be sure to do your testing early. Do not wait until July to test. Commercial test providers do their best to score and return test results as quickly as possible; however, problems can occur when these providers are handling such a large volume of work. Allow for ample time (a minimum of 8 weeks) for your test to be graded and returned to you.
- In what subject areas must we test? Superintendents expect testing to include all subjects that are covered by the test.
- What must we submit to the superintendent? You must submit the results of a standardized test showing a composite score at or above the 25th percentile (NPR). First, make sure the test you are administering provides you an overall composite score—not just scores in each subject. Secondly, never submit an overall score below the 25th percentile. If your child’s overall score falls below the 25th percentile, call the HSLDA legal department to discuss alternatives to testing. (Remember, it doesn’t matter if some areas are lower than the 25th percentile, as long as the overall composite score is at or above 25.)
- When do we submit the academic assessment? Regardless of requests from school districts for earlier submission, the assessment is to be submitted with the notification at the beginning of the next school year.
Home Schoolers Must Notify!
HSLDA has also seen problems develop when a family first withdraws their child from public school in order to home school, and fails to submit a written notification to the local superintendent. For those of our members who are in a position to assist new home schoolers, or who hold leadership positions in state organizations or support groups, we urge you to familiarize these new home schoolers with the requirements of the law.
When an Ohio family decides to home school, they must (1) officially withdraw the child from the local public school and (2) notify the superintendent of their intent to home school. Too many new home schoolers find themselves in hot water because they simply kept their child out of school without notifying the local school. As a result the local school marks the child “absent with no explanation.” It is the parents’—not the superintendent’s—responsibility to initiate the with-drawal process.
Following this simple process will make the transition smoother and help prevent truancy problems in connection with unexcused absences at the public school.
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Ohio
Admitted to statehood:
March 1, 1803
Origin of name:
Iroquois for “fine or good river.”
Motto:
With God, all things are possible.
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HOME SCHOOL LEGAL DEFENSE ASSOCIATION
