Every year I see new(er) home education families become anxious about annual assessments. For many, it can feel like a moment of pressure or uncertainty.
Deep breath…
Yes, it is unfamiliar to you. Yes, there is a huge range of options so it can be overwhelming. However, it really isn’t a big deal. Your child’s performance on the assessment does not determine if he or she passes, moves on to the next grade level, if this year has been successful, or if you’re a good home ed parent.
Really.
Remember, you make big decisions for your family every day so you absolutely can do this, too!
You Have Options
New Hampshire’s home education law recognizes individual progress, and does not impose comparisons by grade levels, ages, or other cohorts.
Families have three broad options for fulfilling the annual assessment:
- A national student achievement test
- An evaluation by a teacher, or
- Another method acceptable to your Participating Agency (the SAU, private school, or the NH DOE to whom you sent your original notification)
One approach is not better than another. Choose whatever best reflects your child’s learning over the past year and individual progress. Remember, the requirement is “progress commensurate with [the child’s] age, ability, and/or disability.” Your child is not evaluated based on an arbitrary group standard; what matters is your child’s individual development.
GSHE has several resources to help you and everything is at your fingertips with a free registered account.
Annual Assessment how-to guide that explains your options with examples
If you are the research type, look into the various types of national student achievement tests to see if one covers the subjects and provides the kind of feedback you want. The GSHE resource database has several testing service providers that may work for you, and you’re not limited to using them; you can utilize any national student achievement test and service. Some families like that testing can be done in the privacy of their own home and results can be very quick.
If that’s not a good fit for you and you want a more personal touch, look at the long list of teachers who offer evaluation services to NH home ed families; many are homeschoolers themselves! Email or call a couple and have a discussion. Ask about their teaching experience, their approach to the evaluation process, what kind of information they want to review, costs, availability, etc.
If that’s uncomfortable for you, pick a test or evaluator at random or use some other criteria. See how it goes.
Independent home ed families have a third option to satisfy the assessment and it’s a wide-open option; it can be almost anything as long as your Participating Agency agrees to it. Maybe your child is enrolled in a full-time online program and you can use report cards or grades to document what your child learned. Maybe your student will take a different kind of assessment such as the SSAT, PSAT, or the SAT before 11th grade. Those might be good alternatives. Think about what your child is learning and what would best highlight his/her growth.
If you aren’t satisfied with the results, pick again and have a do-over. No matter how the assessment goes, the results remain private. Add it to your child’s portfolio and keep it in a safe place for at least two years.
I have complete faith in you that you can handle your child’s assessment in whatever way you think best.
YOU CAN DO IT
The high-stakes testing environment of public education has likely influenced families into stressing about the home ed assessment.
Remember, home education does not need to replicate traditional school education – not the pedagogy, standards, curriculum, scope/sequence, calendar, daily schedule, testing, or anything else.
No pressure. There isn’t a judge that will stand over you and approve or condemn you. Your child’s future is not at risk, nor is your home ed program.
Try to think of the assessment as an opportunity for feedback, to receive a fresh perspective about your child’s progress. You can use it to make adjustments for the next year or for tweaking curriculum and learning plans.
Some families think of it as a way to look back and reflect on the growth of the past year.
If nothing else, it simply fulfills a legal requirement. Done.
It’s all good no matter how you decide to satisfy the annual assessment. There is no wrong choice or bad outcome. There is no “best” method, test, or evaluator. What is best is whatever works for your family.
