Hawaii
Change in Testing Requirements
As the result of intense lobbying by Christian Homeschoolers of Hawaii, it appears that the state board of education has abandoned an amendment to change standardized testing grades for home school students. Current law requires that home school students participate in the statewide testing program in grades 3, 6, 8, and 10. The proposed change in the administrative rules would have deleted the specific grade levels and substituted “as determined by the superintendent.” However, the state board of education has tentatively agreed to continue to specify the grade levels for required testing, now at grades 3, 5, 8, and 10. As this article goes to press, final action on the designation of grade levels for testing is expected at a March 16 state board meeting.
Although the state board’s apparent intent in proposing superintendent-determined testing requirements was to make testing of home schooled students coincide with that of public school students, the potential for abuse was obvious. Home schoolers might have found themselves being tested every year instead of only at those grade levels where the public school students were tested. Hawaii home schoolers also tried to eliminate state testing of home school students altogether, but their effort was unsuccessful. — Dewitt T. Black
