New York
District attempts to impose testing
Lancaster Central School District officials asked a Home School Legal Defense Association member family from Erie County to register their students for Regents examinations at the local public high school. HSLDA Attorney Dewitt Black responded to the district by pointing out that students in a home instruction program are not required to participate in any state testing.
Section 100.3 of the Regulations of the Commissioner of Education expressly provides that students receiving instruction at home may take, but shall not be required to take, the Pupil Evaluation Program (PEP) tests. Revised Questions and Answers on Home Instruction, published by the New York State Education Department in July 1996, confirms the state's position that students instructed at home are not required to take the PEP tests, Regents Competency Tests (RCTs), or any other state test. Parents may use these tests to meet annual assessment requirements, but home-instructed students are not required to take them.
Home schooling families encountering similar testing problems should contact HSLDA for assistance.
- Dewitt T. Black
