Homeschooling in Oregon

What you must file

1. No fixed dateYou file

   Notification to the ESD

   Within 10 days of starting to teach your child at home, of withdrawing your child from school, or of the start of the school year

   Goes to: Local Education Service District

   Not annual. If you begin home schooling at the start of a school year, count the 10 days from the start of that school year; if you begin during the school year, count them from the day you withdraw your child from school. A move to a new education service district needs its own written notice to the new ESD.

2. August 15You keep

   Standardized test at grades 3, 5, 8 and 10

   No later than 15 August of the relevant year

   How often: at those grades

   Goes to: KEPT BY THE PARENT, submitted only if the ESD requests it

   Use a test from the State Board of Education's approved list, given by a qualified neutral person who is not related to your child by blood or marriage (for example, someone with a current Oregon teaching or personnel service license, someone licensed by the Oregon Board of Psychologist Examiners, or someone who meets the publisher's qualifications to buy the test and has bought one of the approved tests). If your child was withdrawn from public school, the first test is given at least 18 months after the withdrawal. If your child never attended public or private school, the first test is given before the end of grade 3. The tester reports the results to you; keep them for your records. The family pays for testing. A child with a disability who has an individualized education program and receives special education through the school district, or who is taught under a privately developed plan, takes these tests only if the program or plan recommends them.

3. No fixed dateYou file

   New notice after moving to a new education service district

   When you move to a new education service district

   How often: each move

   Goes to: The new education service district

   Send it in writing. The new ESD acknowledges it in writing. The Oregon Department of Education also asks families who move outside their school district, even within the same ESD, to let their ESD know.

4. No fixed dateYou file

   Tell the ESD if your child returns to school or home schooling stops

   When your child returns to school or you stop home schooling

   How often: when it happens

   Goes to: Local Education Service District

   The Oregon Department of Education lists contacting your local ESD when your child returns to school among the things home schooling families must do, and its FAQ says to notify your ESD if you stop home schooling.

5. No fixed dateYou keep

   Extra test within one year after a score below the 15th percentile

   Within one year of the earlier test, if your child's composite score was below the 15th percentile based on national norms

   How often: only after a low score

   Goes to: Kept by the parent, and sent to the education service district if its superintendent asks

   If the score on that extra test is lower again, your child takes another test within one year of it, and the ESD superintendent decides whether home schooling continues as before or under a licensed teacher you choose and pay for.

6. No fixed dateYou file

   Evaluation report under a privately developed plan (child with a disability)

   In place of the test results at grades 3, 5, 8 and 10, once your child has been evaluated under the plan

   How often: in place of each required test

   Goes to: Local Education Service District

   Only for a child with a disability who is taught under a privately developed plan and evaluated by service providers you choose. Your child is evaluated for satisfactory progress as the plan recommends and takes the standard tests only if the plan recommends them. The law says you submit a report of that evaluation to the ESD in place of test results. If the plan says testing is not the right measure of progress, the Oregon Department of Education also asks you to share that with your ESD.

7. August 15You file

   Yearly test results for school sports and activities, only if your child takes part

   By August 15 each year, before the school year in which your child takes part

   How often: annual, while taking part

   Goes to: Your resident school district

   Only for a home schooled child who joins interscholastic activities, such as sports, music or speech, at the resident school district. The law asks for a score at or above the 23rd percentile, based on national norms, on a test from the state's approved list, taken before the school year, and you send the results to the school district. The district may instead set other requirements with you, such as a portfolio of work samples. The Oregon Department of Education gives August 15 as the date.