Hello,
I am on the Board of Directors for our county homeschool support group, and I answer the email questions that come into the group. I know that one of the options for homeschoolers to meet the law is to take a standardized test "adminstered by a certified teacher". My question is in the interpretation of this phrase. I know that a number of homeschooling parents give their children the test at home without a teacher present, and then send it to a teacher who grades it and completes the letter which goes in to the County Superintendant. Does this meet the requirements of the law? I would appreciate being able to understand the law better so that I can help the homeschoolers in my area.
Thanks for all you do!
Sincerely, L.M.
The law was not intended for a parent to administer the test; otherwise, I would not have said "administer by a certified teacher." It does not say a Florida certified teacher. Some distant learning programs, such as Bob Jones, certify test administrators, but that does not meet the criteria of a certified teacher. Only if the parent is a certified teacher are they in compliance with the law in administering a such a test. Therefore, I would say that the practice you described does not meet the intent of the law. The methods outlined in the law were intended to be a third party evaluation.
If the distant learning program provides a transcript or written evaluation to the parent, which includes a standardized test given by the parent, the school district might accept it under Option #5 as the child's evaluation.