Evaluation

The following information is provided as a courtesy to families in New Hampshire and is not intended as legal advice. It is only applicable to those home educating under RSA 193-A. If you are using an Education Freedom Account or another educational pathway, you are governed by a different legal statute. Please see our Education Pathways page. We strongly encourage you to read and understand the text of the education law applicable to the program you intend to implement prior to beginning that program.

Evaluation

Parents are required to have their child’s educational progress evaluated each year. There is no particular date by which the evaluation must be completed. If your family started homeschooling in the middle of the school year, you would not need to have an evaluation on file until a year from when you started. The child’s progress may be evaluated by any of the following methods:

• A portfolio evaluation may be completed by a teacher who either holds a teaching credential issued by the New Hampshire State Board of Education, is licensed in a state which is a party to the interstate contract, or is currently teaching in a NH nonpublic (private) school. (See our list of Evaluators.) 
• National student achievement test, administered by a person who meets the qualifications established by the provider or publisher of the test, OR a state student assessment test used by the resident school district. A composite score at or above the 40th percentile is no longer required.

• Any other valid measurement tool mutually agreed upon by the parent and the Commissioner of Education, resident district superintendent, or nonpublic school principal. This could be an agreement to accept grades from an online school program, to have a meeting with a teacher or principal, or to have the child take assessment tests at the school, among other options.

The results of the evaluation, typically no more than one or two pages, do NOT need to be submitted to the participating agency.

The evaluation is kept on hand for the parents records. The child only needs to demonstrate educational progress at a level commensurate with the child’s age, ability, and/or disability. In the case of portfolio evaluation, the evaluation is not considered complete unless it has a parent’s signature, so if you feel your child’s evaluation is not accurate, do not sign it. Here you can see more information on compiling your homeschool portfolio, and evaluators are welcome to use this portfolio evaluation form.