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HAWAII

School wants veto power over tests

A member family in Kauai was recently contacted by the Kilauea Elementary School principal regarding the tests required for homeschool students in grades 3, 5, 8, and 10. He stated that homeschooling families electing to test outside of the public school system in these grades could only use a test that was comparable to the criterion-referenced or norm-referenced reading and mathematics test administered by the department of education "and approved by the principal of the school in their geographical area."

Home School Legal Defense Association wrote to the principal on behalf of our member family, pointing out that state law does not give a public school principal the authority to override the choice of the parents for the standardized achievement test given to their child. While the test selected must be comparable to the criterion-referenced or norm-referenced reading and mathematics test administered by the department of education, state law allows parents to pick from a host of standardized norm-referenced tests, including but not limited to the California Achievement Test, the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, and the Stanford Achievement Test. According to the Hawaii Administrative Rules, the only time that a principal has the authority to approve or disapprove of the evaluation in these grades is if the parent desires to select an alternative means of evaluation other than a standardized norm-referenced achievement test to meet the Statewide Testing Program requirements.

HSLDA expects our member family to have no further difficulty regarding their choice of a standardized norm-referenced achievement test for their children. Should any other member family have difficulty with the public school officials in the selection of their achievement tests, please contact us.