Washington
• Compulsory Attendance Ages: Between 8 and 18 (§ 28A.225.010)
• Required Days of Instruction: 180 days or in grades 1-12 "an annual average total instructional hour offering of one thousand hours." (§ 28A.225.010(4), § 28A.195.010(1), §28A.150.220 (1)(b))
• Teacher Qualifications: If using Option I, see #3 below. If using Option II, same as 3(a) below.
• Standardized Tests: Under Option I, either:
a. Parents must ensure that a standardized test approved by the state board is administered annually to the child by a "qualified" person or,
b. Have the child evaluated by a certificated person. (§ 28A.200.010(3))
c. Neither the results of the standardized achievement test nor the evaluation results need to be submitted to the public schools. The results must be retained by the parents as part of the child's permanent records. (§ 28A.200.010(3))
• Under Option II: Each student's progress must be evaluated by the certificated person. (§ 28A.195.010(4)(d))
• Home schoolers have two options. They can qualify under the home school statute or operate as an extension of a private school.
Option I: Home School Statute. (§ 28A.225.010 and § 28A.200.010)
1. Home-based instruction consists of "planned and supervised instructional and related educational activities, including a curriculum and instruction in the basic skills [listed under Required Subjects above]."
2. Parents must provide a number of hours of instruction "equivalent" to the program hours established for approved private schools. (See above.)
3. Instruction may only be provided by a parent who is either:
a. instructing his child only and is supervised by a certificated person (i.e., the certificated person and the parent plan educational objectives; the certificated person has a minimum each month of an average of one contact hour per week with the child; and the certificated person evaluates the child's progress);
b. or instructing his child only and has either forty-five college quarter credits or the equivalent in semester credits or has completed a course in home-based education at a post-secondary institution or a vocational-technical institute;
c. or "deemed sufficiently qualified to provide home-based instruction by the superintendent of the local school district."
4. The requirements above "relating to the nature and quantity of instructional and related educational activities shall be liberally construed." (§ 28A.225.010(5))
5. Parents must file an annual signed declaration of intent to home school by Sept. 15 of each year "or within two weeks of the beginning of any public school quarter, trimester, or semester" with the local superintendent or with the superintendent of a nonresident district which accepts the home school student as a transfer student under (§ 28A.225.220). "The statement shall include the name and age of the child, shall specify whether a certificated person will be supervising the instruction, and shall be written in a format prescribed by the superintendent of public instruction." (§ 28A.200.010(1))
6. "The state hereby recognizes that parents who are causing their children to receive home-based instruction under (28A.225.010(4)) shall be subject only to those minimum state laws and regulations which are necessary to insure that a sufficient basic educational opportunity is provided to the children receiving such instruction. Therefore, all decisions relating to philosophy or doctrine, selection of books, teaching materials, and curriculum, and methods, timing, and place in the provision or evaluation of home-based instruction shall be the responsibility of the parent except for matters specifically referred to in this chapter." (§ 28A.200.020)
Option II: Alternative Statute Allowing for Home Instruction. (§ 28A.225.010(1)(a), 28A.195.010(4)). An approved private school may operate an extension program for parents, guardians, or persons having legal custody of a child to teach children in their custody. These students are considered to be private school students.
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Washington State High School Graduation Requirements
- English units: 3. Students must complete 3 units English that address reading, writing and communications.
- Math units: 2
- Social studies units: 2.5. Must include 1 unit U.S. history and government, .5 unit Washington State History and Government and 1 unit "contemporary world history, geography and problems."
- Science units: 2, incl. 1 lab science
- P.E./Health units: 2. 2 units "health and fitness."
- Arts: 1 unit arts
- Foreign language: 0
- Electives units: 5.5. "Restricted elective" unit no longer required, just 5.5 units electives.
- Other units: 1 unit "Occupational Education." "Occupational education" means credits resulting from a series of learning experiences designed to assist the student to acquire and demonstrate competency of skills under student learning goal four [Student Learning Goal 4: "Understand the importance of work and how performance, effort, and decisions directly affect future career and educational opportunities"] and which skills are required for success in current and emerging occupations. At a minimum, these competencies shall align with the definition of an exploratory course as proposed or adopted in the career and technical education program standards of the superintendent of public instruction."
Other diploma options: State offers honors designation option and proficiency-based credit option. State does not offer technical diploma option.
Notes:
- Community colleges are authorized to award high school diplomas, provided they adhere to state board requirements for high schools
- In addition to Carnegie unit requirements, all students must complete a "culminating project" and a "high school and beyond plan." "The [culminating] project consists of the student demonstrating both their learning competencies and preparations related to learning goals three and four. Each district shall define the process to implement this graduation requirement, including assessment criteria, in written district policy." The High School and Beyond Plan is to be "an education plan for their high school experience, including what they expect to do the year following graduation."
Important Note: State Graduation requirements are not necessarily the best guideline for homeschoolers to use. They have been included here as a guideline for what a typical public school student would need to complete in order to graduate.
A more important guideline may be the College Entrance requirements for where your student would like to attend college. While colleges have differing requirements, there are many colleges that publish requirements for homeschool graduates.
Related Pages:
Homeschool Support Groups in Washington
Colleges in Washington