Homeschooling Parents Told State Assessment Tests a Must

Earlier this school year, homeschoolers within the Hale Kula Elementary School "attendance zone" received a troublesome letter. The letter began, "[d]uring the months of March and April 2006, your child will be taking the Hawaii State Assessment."

After explaining details of the State assessments, the letter stated that parents could request to have their children exempted from the assessment.

According to the school principal, in order for a request for exemption to be granted a letter would have to be submitted to the school where it would be forwarded to the State Test Development for review and approval.

The Home School Legal Defense Association intervened with a letter to Hale Kula Elementary School and pointed out that while Hawaii law requires homeschool parents to have their children tested in grades 3, 5, 8, and 10, they are not required to take the Hawaii State Assessments.

In reality, a parent can chose normed referenced achievement tests comparable to the state assessment. While parents can request to have their children take the Hawaii State Assessments in a testing year, it is optional.

Hawaii State Assessments are content-based tests that are geared to curriculum taught in the public school. A homeschool child who is taught at home will likely not be familiar with the content on these assessments.

HSLDA reported that Hale Kula Elementary School has since dropped all of their demands.