Homeschooling in Colorado

What you must file

1. No fixed dateYou file

   Written notice of intent

   14 days before establishing the program, then every year while it continues (not required before age six or after age sixteen)

   Goes to: Any Colorado public school district office. If you file with a district other than the one your child lives in, the Colorado Department of Education advises also notifying your home district, to avoid truancy action.

   Name, age, place of residence and number of hours of attendance of each child. The law asks you to certify only these facts, in writing.

2. No fixed dateYou file

   Test or evaluation results

   When the child reaches grades 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11. Colorado's homeschool statute names no specific date for submitting the results.

   How often: at grades 3, 5, 7, 9 and 11

   Goes to: The school district that received your notice of intent, or an independent or parochial school in Colorado

   Either a nationally standardized achievement test, or an evaluation of the child's academic progress by a qualified person you choose: a teacher licensed under Colorado's educator licensing law, a teacher employed by an independent or parochial school, a licensed psychologist, or a person with a graduate degree in education. An evaluation asks whether the child is making sufficient academic progress according to the child's ability. Colorado's own state assessments do not count as the nationally standardized test. The results must be submitted, not just kept, and the Colorado Department of Education says the test or evaluation is at the parent's expense.

3. No fixed dateYou keep

   Attendance, test and immunization records

   n/a

   How often: continuous

   Goes to: Kept at home; the district may request them only on probable cause and with 14 days' written notice

   Keep these records permanently. They include, but need not be limited to, attendance data, test and evaluation results, and immunization records.

4. No fixed dateYou file

   Name of the independent or parochial school that holds the test or evaluation results

   If you submit the test or evaluation results to an independent or parochial school instead of the district

   How often: each time results go to an independent or parochial school

   Goes to: The school district that received your notice of intent

   This applies only if you send the results to an independent or parochial school rather than to the district. That school must tell the district if the composite test score is at or below the 13th percentile or the evaluation shows the child is not making sufficient academic progress.

5. No fixed dateYou file

   Written description of the curriculum, if the child was habitually truant

   With your first notice of intent, before the child is enrolled in the home program, if the child was habitually truant at any time during the last six months the child attended school

   How often: once, with the first notice of intent

   Goes to: The school district that receives your notice of intent

   A child who was habitually truant at any time during the last six months the child attended school may not be enrolled in a home-based program unless the parents first submit a written description of the curricula to be used, along with the notice of intent. Under Colorado law a child counts as habitually truant after four unexcused absences from public school in any one month, or ten during any academic year.