As so many parents submit their notice of intent to homeschool near the beginning of the traditional school year, in August or September, we are nearing the time when many Florida homeschool parents have to submit their end of the year evaluations. While our students have for the last several years had evaluations due in the middle of the school year, due to moves into the county at that time, most districts are willing to accept evaluations early. After all, a public school student's evaluation is their FCAT test, which they take in March and April before the school year ends. So if you want to submit your evaluations at the end of your school year or a few months ahead of time, most districts are willing to take them. And your evaluator will probably thank you for taking some stress off of them during their busiest season. Just be aware that your evaluation is due to your district superintendent's office one year from the day that they received your notice of intent, so don't be late!
Florida Statue 1002.41 allows for five types of annual evaluations, this is to provide options so that any parent can find something that will allow their student to demonstrate "educational progress at a level commensurate with her or his ability." I feel like this is an important distinction, you aren't measuring your child against ever changing state standards arbitrarily chosen by those who have no experience in the field of education. Nor are you measuring your child against their peers. Your child is being measured against themselves, did they learn, are they using their potential, are they growing with their ability? This means the brightest academic students are just as challenged as those who struggle with academics, and everyone should show growth in their weakest areas as well as in their strengths.
Portfolio Review and Discussion
The first option is probably the one most used among Florida homeschooler, and that is the portfolio review and discussion. The portfolio, which we discussed earlier this month, is something that all homeschoolers are suppose to keep. So perhaps the easiest option for most homeschoolers is to take that portfolio and have it reviewed by an evaluator. An evaluator can be any Florida certified teacher with a degree to teach elementary or secondary classes. they do not have to be a current teacher, so long as they have an active license. Our evaluator hasn't taught in the public or private school system for a number of years, but keeps her certification in order to do evaluations. Likewise if your neighbor or aunt is a public school teacher they don't need any special extra licensing to evaluate your student. After reviewing their portfolio, they must have a conversation with the student. This doesn't mean that they have to test them on their understanding of the inner workings of the Olive Branch Petition and advanced Calculus, but they do want to verify that your student is learning in a way that corresponds with their ability.
I personally have loved the option to have an evaluator look over what we've done over the course of the year and become familiar with my students. We purposefully chose someone who was comfortable evaluating unschoolers, so that I could use unconventional learning opportunities as part of our portfolio. It has also given me the bonus of being able to ask questions and get unconventional feedback and ideas for troublesome areas. It has the additional benefit of being as easy as scheduling a phone call because I've already done all the work of putting together a portfolio.
National Educational Testing
The second option is to use a national normed student achievement test. These are national standardized test that cover math, English, and reading. Some of the most commonly used tests from a quick google search are the California Achievement Test, the TerraNova, the Woodcock Johnson, the Iowa Test, the Stanford Achievement Test, the Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test, the SAT, the ACT, AP testing, and the PASS test which is specifically designed for homeschoolers. Any of these can be used, along with others so long as they are administered by a certified teacher. Many states require such testing and it can be good practice, especially as your students reach high school level and prepare for more advance work. This is not a route that I have personally used, mostly because it would require additional logistics to plan and pay for a test, and find a certified teacher to administer the test. And because I don't want my kids to feel like one test determines how well an entire school year has gone.
State Educational Testing
The third option is to use a state student assessment test that the district uses, to be given by a certified teacher as approved by the district. In other words you can call up the district and opt for your student to take the FCAT along with public school students. Similar to the second option, but taken at the school, or where ever they would like to administer the test, at no cost to you. This could be a good option if you want to test your student but don't want to pay for testing. However, just be aware that the scores come straight to the district, so for good or bad, the school district will have your child's testing records. That has been a reason that we haven't pursued this route.
Psychological Evaluation
The fourth option is to use a licensed psychologist. We have had two of our children tested with a childhood neuropsychologist for developmental and educational testing. It was helpful as we learned that one was ADD and Dyslexic while another was ADHD and Dyslexic. Since then another has been diagnosed as ADHD by a psychiatrist. One huge benefit of testing was that we were given lots of curriculum choices and ideas for improving their education. The report they wrote could have been used to meet their yearly evaluation that year, however, I wasn't comfortable giving that level of information to the school district. However, if you suspect learning disabilities or need more insight into how your child's brain works, this might be a good option for you.
Anything Else
The fifth option is one I just love. It reads, "The student shall be evaluated with any other valid measurement tool as mutually agreed upon by the district school superintendent of the district in which the student resides and the student’s parent." In other words, if you don't feel like any of these options really work to show your child's learning anything that you and the superintendent can get together and agree on will work to show progress. I absolutely love that our law says, there might be a situation that we can't for see that these options just don't work well in order to show progress, so we can be reasonable adults and sit down and work something out together. This might be getting your superintendent to approve a different testing option than what is listed, or using a doctor's evaluation instead of a psychologist's. Maybe your student would like to submit some year long project or personally meet with the superintendent, there could be a whole host of other options; you only need to meet with and get the superintendent to agree to it.
Florida is a homeschool friendly state, making it easy to homeschool, while putting in reasonable protections to insure that homeschool students don't fall between the cracks. One way that this is evident is in the many options to prove progress. Florida recognizes what we know as parents, that not all students can be effectively evaluated the same way, and so there are five evaluation options. Whether you chose to have a teacher evaluate your child with their portfolio, use a psychologist report, try out a form of testing, or work something else out there is an option for your student.
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