Summary of Data from Homeschool Policy and Practice Database - December 2008
Here are collated responses to Advocates for Home Education in Massachusetts's questionnaire about homeschool policy and practice in Massachusetts. For over five years, AHEM has been collecting information from homeschoolers about official town policy (including the policies themselves), and about how homeschooling actually works in towns in Massachusetts, according to homeschoolers. So far we have received 267 responses. The majority of respondents are people who receive regular AHEM updates either via email or US mail, although some respondents received the questionnaire as a forwarded email and others found it on our website. The results draw an interesting picture of the way homeschooling works in general (pretty smoothly) and homeschoolers' personal experiences of dealing with school officials (overall, no major problems).

How much in advance of the school year do school officials ask that you submit homeschooling plans? What do you do? Please explain.
Most schools request that plans be filed before beginning to homeschool, or before the beginning of the school year. Some mention a specific amount of time prior, ranging from one week to three months before school starts. Most homeschoolers submit a plan over the summer, the majority in August. There were no reports of problems if a plan was filed later than requested.

Do school officials ask to meet with homeschoolers? Do you comply? Please explain.
Sixty-six percent of respondents report that school officials do not ask for face-to-face meetings. Ten percent report that school officials ask for an initial meeting with homeschoolers when they filed their first plan; eighty percent of these agreed to a one-time meeting when first starting homeschooling. Twenty-four percent of homeschoolers are asked to meet annually with school officials. Of these, forty-seven percent choose to comply, fifty-three percent do not. While it sometimes takes some negotiating to decline a meeting, homeschoolers who chose not to meet with school officials were ultimately approved.

Do school officials ask to visit your home? Do you comply? Please explain.
Ninety-seven percent of respondents do not have school officials ask to visit their homes. There were no negative consequences for not agreeing to a home visit. Indeed, the 1998 Brunelle Supreme Court decision made it clear that home visits cannot be required as a condition of approval.

Do school officials ask for a daily schedule? For number of hours on each subject? Do you comply? Please explain.
Sixty-nine percent of respondents are not asked for a schedule or number of hours. Thirty-one percent of respondents are asked to supply a schedule or number of hours per subject.

Of those asked to supply a schedule, thirty-one percent comply, and sixty-nine percent do not. Forty-four percent of these sixty-nine percent state instead that they will meet or exceed the 900/990 hours of instruction in the public schools, and that seems to be acceptable. The other fifty-six percent of those who said they did not comply with giving a schedule did not specify how they respond (i.e. they might ignore the request, they might state they will meet or exceed the public schools' hours of instruction, or they might give some other response). In any case, there were no negative consequences for those who chose to decline giving a grid type schedule.

What form of assessment do you provide and how many times a year?
• Fifty-four percent of respondents write a progress report. Some people who write progress reports indicate that the schools expect them to also submit work samples (a report combined with work samples is commonly referred to as a portfolio). Please note that Charles requires homeschoolers to submit only one form of evaluation. A report alone should suffice, or work samples without any written narrative, should suffice. While a portfolio is nice to have as a record for your own use, there is no need to give that much information to school officials.
• Fourteen percent of respondents choose to test. Tests used include the California Achievement Test (CAT), the Personalized Achievement Summary System Test (PASS), the Wide Range Assessment test (WRAT), the Comprehensive Test of Basic Skills (CTBS), the Iowa Test of Basic Skills, the Stanford Test and others.
• Twelve percent of respondents submit no evaluation at all.
• Ten percent of respondents submit work samples.
• Six percent of respondents indicated their evaluation method varies; parents choose from year to year.
• One percent of respondents indicated use of a form of evaluation other than testing, progress reports, or work samples.

Eighty-eight percent of homeschoolers who indicated frequency submit evaluation once a year, ten percent submit twice a year, two percent submit four times a year.

Do school officials provide you with a letter of approval?
Seventy-nine percent of respondents receive an approval letter; fifteen percent receive one if they request one. Six percent do not receive a letter of approval.

Do school officials allow homeschoolers to participate in school activities? Please be specific.
Eighty-four percent of respondents report that their school allows them to participate in either classes, sports, extracurricular activities, or some combination of these. Sixteen percent report that their school does not allow them to participate in school functions at all.

"On a scale of 1 to 5, with 1 being very easy to deal with and 5 being very difficult, how would you rate your town's treatment of homeschoolers?"
Eighty-one percent of respondents reported their town to be easy or very easy to deal with, 15% reported their town to be average, 4% reported their town to be difficult, and no respondents considered their town to be very difficult to deal with. Some towns that homeschoolers rate as friendly include Arlington, Boston, Northborough, Watertown and Westford.

In summary, things continue to go pretty smoothly for homeschoolers here in Massachusetts. Most homeschoolers report no difficulties in dealing with school officials. In cases where school officials ask for more than Charles allows, we see over and over again that homeschoolers who are aware of their rights simply submit what Charles allows, and there are no negative repercussions for standing up for oneself in this way. Furthermore, standing up for your rights in this way strengthens the ability of other homeschoolers to do the same, and lessens the likelihood that school officials' demands will escalate. We can't say it enough: School policies that exceed Charles and Brunelle do not have to be adhered to by homeschoolers. See Tips for Writing your Education Plan for ways to satisfy the requirements of Charles without going into needless detail. Questions? Call AHEM.

This is an ongoing project: We hope you will help us build the database further as the more responses we get, the clearer the picture of homeschooling in Massachusetts becomes. The more questionnaire responses we receive, the easier it is for us to pinpoint hotspots or identify trends. Please take a few minutes to fill out the questionnaire, which you can find here.

Click here to read a February 2008 summary of questionnaire results.

Back to Questionnaire.

The information on this website does not constitute legal advice; it is provided for informational purposes only.