Pennsylvania

Notice and registration

A home education program starts with a filing to the school district, not with an application to the state.

The supervisor — the parent, guardian or person with legal custody — submits a notarized affidavit or an unsworn declaration to the superintendent of the school district where the family lives. The filing is made before the program starts and annually afterwards by August 1.

Three attachments travel with the filing: an outline of proposed education objectives by subject area, evidence of the required immunizations (or a documented exemption), and evidence of the health and medical services required for the child’s age or grade (or a religious exemption).

District approval is not required to begin once the required paperwork has been filed. Pennsylvania’s regulation on this point is short and direct.

“School district approval is not required to commence home education programs.”

22 Pa. Code § 11.31a

Required subjects

The required course list depends on whether the child is at elementary or secondary level. The affidavit must also state that the mandatory subjects will be taught in English.

Elementary level covers grades K–6. Secondary level covers grades 7–12.

• Elementary (K–6): English, including spelling, reading and writing; arithmetic; science; geography; history of the United States and Pennsylvania; civics; safety education, including regular instruction in fire dangers and prevention; health and physiology; physical education; music; art.
• Secondary (7–12): English, including language, literature, speech and composition; science; geography; social studies, including civics, world history, and United States and Pennsylvania history; mathematics, including general mathematics, algebra and geometry; art; music; physical education; health; safety education, including regular instruction in fire dangers and prevention.

Hours and days

Pennsylvania gives you a choice: document the year in days or in hours. Either satisfies the instructional time requirement.

• Elementary level (K–6): 180 days of instruction or 900 hours of instruction per year.
• Secondary level (7–12): 180 days of instruction or 990 hours of instruction per year.
• If you document days, the portfolio does not need to break out hours per day.

Evaluation and testing

One annual evaluation is required. Standardized testing is narrower: it applies in grades 3, 5 and 8.

A qualified evaluator reviews the portfolio and interviews the student. The written evaluation must state whether an appropriate education occurred and document the student’s progress. The parent pays the evaluator.

Evaluators must meet one of the statutory qualification routes: a licensed clinical psychologist; a school psychologist; a Pennsylvania-certified teacher with two years of grading experience at the level being evaluated; a nonpublic school teacher or administrator with two years of Pennsylvania teaching experience in the last ten years at that level; or another person approved in advance by the district superintendent.

The supervisor and the supervisor’s spouse cannot serve as the evaluator, whatever their qualifications.

For grades 3, 5 and 8, the portfolio must include the PSSA results in reading/language arts and mathematics, or results from an approved nationally normed test. PDE publishes the approved test list.

What the portfolio contains

The portfolio documents attendance and sustained progress. At minimum it holds samples of the student’s writings, worksheets, workbooks or creative materials, plus a log kept as instruction happens that lists reading materials by title.

The log is also where the 180-day or 900/990-hour requirement is demonstrated. PDE suggests a three-ring binder with dividers for the log, test results, the evaluation and work samples — one option among many.