Homeschooling in North Dakota

What you must file

1. No fixed dateYou file

   Statement of Intent to Supervise Home Education

   At least 5 days before beginning home education, within 14 days of establishing your child's residence in a school district, and once each year thereafter

   Goes to: The superintendent of your child's school district of residence, or the county superintendent of schools for your child's county of residence if the district employs no superintendent

   Use state form SFN 16909, or a written statement that covers every required item: your child's name, address, date of birth and grade level; your name, address and qualifications; and any public school courses or extracurricular activities your child plans to take part in, with the school district or school offering them. Attach a copy of your child's immunization record (the department's guide also accepts documentation of an exemption) and proof of your child's identity. File a separate statement for each child every school year. Send it to your district of residence even if your district has no high school or your child is open enrolled in another district.

2. No fixed dateYou file

   Standardized achievement test

   During those school years

   How often: at grades 4, 6, 8 and 10

   Goes to: The superintendent of the district where your child lives, or the county superintendent if the district does not employ a superintendent

   Your child takes the standardized achievement test your school district uses or, if you ask, a nationally normed standardized achievement test. A teacher licensed or approved by the Education Standards and Practices Board must give it, in your child's learning environment or, if you ask, in a public school. The district pays for its own test; you pay for a different nationally normed test, and for giving it if you choose the tester. No test is needed if you notify the district that you have a philosophical, moral or religious objection to standardized achievement tests, or that you are licensed or approved to teach by the Education Standards and Practices Board, hold a bachelor's degree, or have met or exceeded the cutoff score of a national teacher examination. You must file that notice, with its documentation, at the same time as your statement of intent; form SFN 16909 asks for a copy of your North Dakota educator's license, National Teacher Exam or Praxis II score, or bachelor's degree (N.D.C.C. 15.1-23-09 and 15.1-23-10).

3. No fixed dateYou keep

   Annual record of courses and academic progress

   Kept each year you home educate; handed over on request if your child transfers to a public school district

   Goes to: Kept by the parent; given on request to the school district superintendent or other administrator if your child transfers to a public school district

   Keep an annual record of the courses your child takes and your child's academic progress assessments, including any standardized achievement test results (N.D.C.C. 15.1-23-05).

4. No fixed dateYou file

   Remediation plan, if a test score is below the 30th percentile

   After a basic composite test score below the 30th percentile nationally, once the multidisciplinary assessment team finds your child is not disabled and you wish to continue home education

   How often: when triggered

   Goes to: The superintendent of the school district, or the county superintendent if the district does not employ a superintendent

   You prepare the plan to address your child's academic deficiencies with the advice and consent of a teacher licensed or approved by the Education Standards and Practices Board, and you pay any cost of developing it. The superintendent uses the plan to judge reasonable academic progress. It stays in effect until your child scores at or above the 30th percentile, or shows one year of academic progress compared with the previous year's score, and you may amend it with the same kind of teacher's advice and consent. If your child later fails to show reasonable academic progress on a required test after the plan ends, a new plan must be developed and followed. If you fail to file the plan, you are deemed in violation of compulsory school attendance provisions and may no longer supervise your child's home education (N.D.C.C. 15.1-23-11 and 15.1-23-12).

5. No fixed dateYou file

   Services plan, if the assessment team finds a disability

   When a multidisciplinary assessment team finds that your child is disabled and needs specially designed instruction that cannot be provided without special education and related services, if you wish to continue home education

   How often: when triggered

   Goes to: The school district superintendent

   The services plan may be developed privately or through the school district, and must show that your child's special needs are being addressed by people qualified to provide special education or related services. Each year the superintendent of your child's school district of residence judges reasonable academic progress against the plan. If the team finds a developmental disability, you may instead continue under the developmental disability route below. If you fail to file a services plan, you are deemed in violation of compulsory school attendance provisions and may no longer supervise your child's home education (N.D.C.C. 15.1-23-13).

6. No fixed dateYou file

   Notice, psychologist's diagnosis and services plan for a child with a developmental disability

   As a condition of home educating a child whom a licensed psychologist has found to have a developmental disability, under N.D.C.C. 15.1-23-14

   How often: when triggered

   Goes to: The superintendent of your child's school district of residence

   You file a notice that your child will receive home education, a copy of the diagnosis of a developmental disability prepared and attested to by a licensed psychologist, and a services plan developed and followed by your school district of residence and you. Instead of that plan, you may use a substitute services plan developed and followed by a services plan team that you select and pay, after giving the superintendent written notice. You must also be qualified to supervise home education under North Dakota's home education law (N.D.C.C. 15.1-23-14).

7. No fixed dateYou file

   Progress reports for a child with a developmental disability

   On or before November 1, February 1 and May 1 of each school year, while you home educate a child with a developmental disability under N.D.C.C. 15.1-23-14

   How often: three times each school year

   Goes to: The superintendent of your child's school district of residence

   The reports are prepared by the services plan team. If the team agrees your child is not making adequate progress, or is not maintaining progress made, it must notify the superintendent and ask for an evaluation by a multidisciplinary team the superintendent appoints (N.D.C.C. 15.1-23-15).