Evaluations

• Your evaluator will need to:
  • Meet and interview your child.
    • An evaluator might ask questions such as what is your favorite book, field trip or subject for the year.
    • Your evaluator should not be asking your child academic questions unless this is something you have requested of them. You should verity with your evaluator if they expect anything beyond the required items listed in the homeschool law.
  • View their portfolio of samples of work from the major subjects studied (samples from the beginning, middle and end of the year to show sustained progress is typically expected)
  • View your log consisting of reading materials used made contemporaneously with instruction
  • Test results for your third, fifth or eighth grader.
    • Your evaluator is required to verifying that testing has been completed, the score of your testing should not have any impact on your evaluation.
  • Verify that you have completed 180 days or have completed (900) hours of instruction per year at the elementary level, or nine hundred ninety (990) hours per year at the secondary level. Not all evaluators require that all 180 days or hours are completed before your evaluation, however they must be achievable by June 30th. You should discuss with your evaluator how they want to verify this requirement.
    
• Fees vary evaluator to evaluator and range from free to $100 plus. When scheduling an evaluation, you should verify with the evaluator their rate for evaluations.
• The length of evaluations also varies and can be as short as 15 mins. Some evaluators will also provide consulting and testing services. You should verify with evaluators the length of their evaluations, additional services they provide and if they are a required part of their evaluation.
• Finding an evaluator that supports homeschooling can be very valuable. While you may have a family member or friend that meets the qualifications of an evaluator, unless they understand and support homeschooling, you may have a better experience with someone with a more seasoned homeschool evaluator.
• It is the responsibility of the supervisor to verify your evaluators qualification. Be sure to verify with your evaluator that they are qualified to evaluate your child’s age group.
• The evaluator should provide the written evaluation to you, the parent, and not directly to the school district. Submitting it to the school district is the parent’s responsibility.

• Note for seniors:  Your evaluator will also need to see a transcript to show that your child has completed the courses required for graduation if you want them to sign a diploma.

An evaluator can be a licensed clinical psychologist, or school psychologist, or a teacher certified by the Commonwealth. The certified teacher shall have experience at the elementary level to evaluate elementary students or at the secondary level to evaluate secondary students. The certified teacher must have two years of experience grading the major subject areas.

An evaluator may also be a non-public school teacher or administrator. A non-public school teacher or administrator shall have at least two years of teaching experience in a Pennsylvania public or non-public school within the last ten years. Such a non-public teacher or administrator shall have the required experience at the elementary level to evaluate elementary students or at the secondary level to evaluate secondary students.

At the request of the supervisor, persons with other qualifications may conduct the evaluation with the prior consent of the district superintendent. The evaluator cannot be the supervisor of the home education program or the spouse of the supervisor.

From the PA Homeschool Law:

In no event shall the evaluator be the supervisor or their spouse.

(i.1) If the superintendent has a reasonable belief, at any time during the school year, that appropriate education may not be occurring in the home education program, he may submit a letter to the supervisor, by certified mail, return receipt requested, requiring that an evaluation be conducted in accordance with subsection (e)(2) and that an evaluator’s certification stating that an appropriate education is occurring for the school year under review, be submitted to the district by the supervisor within thirty (30) days of the receipt of the certified letter. The certified letter shall include the basis for the superintendent’s reasonable belief. If the tests, as required in subsection (e)(1), have not been administered at the time of the receipt of the certified letter by the supervisor, the supervisor shall submit the other required documentation to the evaluator and shall submit the test results to the evaluator with the completed documentation at the conclusion of the school year. If the certification is not submitted to the superintendent within thirty (30) days of receipt of the certified letter, the board of school directors shall provide for a proper hearing in accordance with subsection (k).

The following interviews with seasoned evaluators supply some helpful information regarding evaluators and evaluations: