Testing requirements
Homeschool Testing Requirements by State
Testing and evaluation rules vary widely. Some states have no routine testing requirement, while others require annual assessment, portfolio review, or specific grade-level testing.
This is a navigation and comparison hub. Use the official-source links on each state page before making compliance decisions.
Alabama
Testing: No statewide testing requirement applies across Alabama homeschool options. · Frequency: Not required statewide. · Records: Keep enrollment records and attendance or course records through your church school, private school, or tutor program. Even when the law is light, families should keep work samples, attendance, and high school records.
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Alaska
Testing: No statewide testing is required for families homeschooling directly under the parent-or-guardian option. · Frequency: Not required for direct independent homeschooling. · Records: Alaska does not require formal records for direct independent homeschooling, but families should still keep attendance notes, course lists, work samples, and high school transcripts.
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Arizona
Testing: No statewide testing is required for independent homeschoolers. · Frequency: Not required. · Records: Keep a copy of the affidavit of intent, proof of the child’s birth that you submitted, and your own school records such as attendance, coursework, and high school transcripts.
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Arkansas
Testing: No statewide testing is required for independent homeschoolers. · Frequency: Not required. · Records: The state does not impose heavy routine recordkeeping, but families should keep copies of the annual notice, any required waiver paperwork, attendance notes, course lists, work samples, and high school transcripts.
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California
Testing: No statewide testing is required for families homeschooling independently through the private school or private tutor routes. · Frequency: Not required for independent homeschooling. · Records: For the private school affidavit route, keep attendance records, course information, and the basic records required of private schools. Many families also keep work samples and transcripts.
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Colorado
Testing: Yes, for students under the standard homeschool statute. · Frequency: In grades 3, 5, 7, 9, and 11. · Records: Keep permanent records for each child, including attendance, test or evaluation results, and immunization records or exemption paperwork. The district that received your notice of intent can request these records under the law.
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Connecticut
Testing: No statewide testing is required for independent homeschoolers. · Frequency: Not required. · Records: Connecticut does not require a specific statewide set of homeschool records by law, but families should keep attendance notes, course lists, work samples, and high school transcripts. If you voluntarily participate in a portfolio review, keep samples from the required subjects.
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Delaware
Testing: No statewide standardized testing is required for Delaware homeschool options covered here. · Frequency: Not required. · Records: Keep copies of your annual enrollment and attendance filings, attendance logs, course lists, work samples, and high school records. If you run a multi-family homeschool, the liaison should keep the reporting records for the group.
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District of Columbia
Testing: No general standardized testing requirement was identified for District of Columbia homeschoolers. · Frequency: Not required, although homeschooled students may be eligible to take some public-school-sponsored tests, including Advanced Placement tests under current DC law. · Records: Maintain a portfolio for at least one year that includes evidence of the student's current work, such as writings, worksheets, workbooks, creative materials, assessments, or other materials showing regular educational activity across subjects. It is also wise to keep attendance records, curriculum information, correspondence, and permanent high school records.
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Florida
Testing: Yes. Parents must complete one of the annual evaluation options allowed by the state. · Frequency: Annually. · Records: Keep a portfolio with a log of educational activities and samples of the student’s work for two years.
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Georgia
Testing: Yes. Students must take a nationally standardized test at regular intervals. · Frequency: Every three years beginning at the end of third grade. · Records: Keep monthly attendance records, write a yearly progress report for each student, and retain those records for at least three years.
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Hawaii
Testing: Yes. Hawaii requires an annual progress report or assessment, which may be done through one of the approved reporting methods rather than a single required statewide test. · Frequency: Annually. · Records: Keep a copy of your notice of intent, your educational plan, annual progress reports, attendance-style records, work samples, and high school records. These documents are especially important because Hawaii expects yearly proof of progress.
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Idaho
Testing: No statewide testing is required for independent homeschoolers. · Frequency: Not required. · Records: Idaho does not require a formal statewide homeschool recordkeeping system, but families should keep attendance-style records, course lists, work samples, and high school transcripts.
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Illinois
Testing: No statewide testing is required for independent homeschoolers. · Frequency: Not required. · Records: Illinois does not impose a detailed statewide homeschool recordkeeping system, but families should keep attendance records, a course list, work samples, and high school transcripts.
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Indiana
Testing: No statewide testing is required for independent homeschoolers. · Frequency: Not required. · Records: Indiana does not impose heavy homeschool paperwork, but families should keep attendance records, a course list, work samples, and high school transcripts. Keeping clear withdrawal records is also wise if a child previously attended public school.
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Iowa
Testing: It depends on the option. Iowa's annual-assessment route requires yearly assessment submissions, and Home School Assistance Programs may impose additional testing. Independent Private Instruction, opt-out, and the supervising-teacher route are not described in the available sources as having a general statewide testing requirement. · Frequency: Annual for the annual-assessment pathway. Home School Assistance Programs may add their own testing expectations. Otherwise, no single statewide testing schedule applies across all Iowa homeschool options in the available sources. · Records: Iowa's paperwork varies by pathway, but families should keep Form A filings when used, course plans, textbook lists, attendance or day counts, work samples, assessment results if applicable, immunization or exemption records when required, and high school transcripts.
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Kansas
Testing: Yes. The available sources say Kansas students should be tested periodically, but they do not clearly give one statewide standardized test schedule for homeschoolers. · Frequency: Periodic. The available sources do not clearly identify a statewide grade-by-grade or annual testing schedule. · Records: Keep a copy of your private school registration, attendance records, course plans, test records, work samples, and high school transcripts. Kansas law in the available sources is light on detailed homeschool paperwork, but good records are still important.
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Kentucky
Testing: The captured sources do not describe a routine statewide testing requirement for homeschools operating under Kentucky's private school approach. · Frequency: Not clearly stated in the captured sources. · Records: Keep attendance reports and scholarship reports, meaning report cards, in a similar manner to the local public schools. The captured source says these reports are generally updated every six to nine weeks, depending on the local district schedule.
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Louisiana
Testing: No routine statewide testing appears to be required just to homeschool. For the home study option, renewal requires evidence of progress, and one allowed way to show that is through LEAP, CAT, or another approved standardized test score, but the DOE page also says home study students are not required to take state assessments. · Frequency: No routine statewide homeschool testing schedule is clearly stated. For the home study option, progress evidence is part of the annual renewal process. · Records: For home study renewals, keep enough records to show that you offered a sustained curriculum of quality. The captured source says the renewal packet can include subject outlines, a list of books and materials, work samples, standardized test results, third-party statements, and other evidence of program quality. For the nonpublic school option, keep copies of withdrawal notices when relevant and the annual attendance report.
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Maine
Testing: Yes. Maine requires an annual assessment of academic progress for students using the home instruction option. · Frequency: Annually, with the assessment submitted by September 1 each following year. · Records: Keep copies of the notice of intent, each annual continuation letter, and each annual assessment until the home instruction program ends. The statute says these records must be available to the commissioner on request.
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Maryland
Testing: No statewide standardized testing requirement applies just for homeschooling, but the portfolio option includes regular portfolio reviews and umbrella programs may have their own oversight rules. · Frequency: No statewide homeschool testing schedule. Under the portfolio option, portfolio reviews are generally held at least three times each year. · Records: For the portfolio option, keep a portfolio showing instructional materials, reading materials, and examples of the student’s work. The portfolio must be available for review at the times required by the supervising authority.
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Massachusetts
Testing: Not by a uniform statewide rule. Districts may require a reasonable form of evaluation, such as a progress report, portfolio review, or other agreed method, as part of the approval process. · Frequency: Varies by the evaluation method approved by the local district, often annually or at intervals set in the approval plan. · Records: Keep a copy of the approved home education plan, attendance-style records, course lists, work samples, and any progress reports or evaluation materials required by the district’s approval letter.
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Michigan
Testing: No statewide testing is required for families homeschooling only under the homeschool statute. · Frequency: Not required for the direct homeschool statute option. · Records: Michigan does not require a specific set of homeschool records under the direct homeschool statute, but keeping attendance notes, course lists, work samples, and high school transcripts is strongly recommended.
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Minnesota
Testing: Yes, in most cases. Minnesota requires annual assessment with a nationally norm-referenced standardized achievement test unless an exception applies, such as instruction through an accredited nonpublic program described in the available sources. · Frequency: Annually for students covered by the testing rule. · Records: Keep documentation showing that the required subjects are being taught and that required tests were given. The HSLDA summary says this should include class schedules, copies of instructional materials, and descriptions of how student progress is assessed.
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Mississippi
Testing: No statewide standardized testing requirement appears in the available source set for Mississippi home study programs. · Frequency: Not required statewide. · Records: Keep a copy of the certificate of enrollment and your basic school records at home, including attendance notes, course lists, work samples, and high school records.
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Missouri
Testing: No statewide testing is required in the available sources, although academic evaluations are one of the record types families may keep for children under 16. · Frequency: Not required statewide. · Records: For children under 16, keep a plan book, diary, or similar record showing subjects taught and educational activities; samples of the child's work; and academic evaluations, or other written credible evidence that is equivalent. The HSLDA summary says families should always have at least two full years of records on hand, and high school records should be kept long term.
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Montana
Testing: No statewide testing requirement is described in the available sources reviewed here. · Frequency: Not required statewide in the available sources. · Records: Keep attendance records for your homeschool and make them available to the county superintendent on request. Families should also keep a copy of the yearly notice and strong academic records, especially for high school, even though the available sources mainly speak to attendance.
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Nebraska
Testing: The raw sources reviewed here do not describe a routine statewide testing requirement for Nebraska exempt-school homeschoolers. · Frequency: Not clearly described in the raw sources reviewed here. · Records: Keep copies of your filed forms, the child's birth certificate or other accepted identity-and-age proof, attendance records, course plans, and samples of student work. The statute excerpt also says exempt schools must report attendance, and good high school records are important later.
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Nevada
Testing: No routine statewide homeschool testing requirement was found in the reviewed Nevada statute and source bundle. · Frequency: Not required in the reviewed sources. · Records: Keep a copy of the filed notice of intent, the educational plan, and the district's written acknowledgment. It is also wise to keep attendance-style records, work samples, and high school transcripts even though the reviewed sources do not describe heavy ongoing reporting.
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New Hampshire
Testing: Yes, but not always as a standardized test. New Hampshire requires an annual educational evaluation, which can be done through teacher review of the portfolio, a national student achievement test, the resident district's state assessment, or another mutually agreed valid measurement tool. · Frequency: Annual evaluation each year. · Records: Parents must maintain a portfolio including a log of reading materials by title and samples of writings, worksheets, workbooks, or creative materials used or developed by the child. The portfolio remains the parent's property and must be preserved for 2 years from the end of instruction. Parents must also keep a copy of the annual evaluation.
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New Jersey
Testing: No statewide testing is required for independent homeschoolers. · Frequency: Not required. · Records: New Jersey does not require a formal statewide recordkeeping system, but families should keep attendance-style records, course plans, work samples, and high school transcripts in case questions arise.
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New Mexico
Testing: The available raw sources reviewed here do not show a general statewide testing requirement for independent homeschoolers. · Frequency: Not required in the available raw sources. · Records: New Mexico appears to expect parents to keep immunization records. Families should also keep copies of their homeschool notices, attendance records, course lists, work samples, and high school transcripts, especially because the official state page was unavailable during source review.
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New York
Testing: Yes. New York requires regular assessments, including standardized testing in designated years. · Frequency: Quarterly reports during the year and an annual assessment every year. · Records: Keep attendance records and maintain materials supporting quarterly reports and annual assessments.
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North Carolina
Testing: Yes. Students must take a nationally standardized test or other equivalent national standardized measure each year. · Frequency: Annually. · Records: Keep attendance records, immunization records, and annual standardized test results in your files.
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North Dakota
Testing: No routine statewide testing is generally required for families homeschooling under the home education law. · Frequency: Not generally required. · Records: Keep copies of your statement of intent and basic school records such as attendance, courses taught, work samples, and high school transcripts when applicable.
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Ohio
Testing: No statewide testing, portfolio review, or assessment submission is required under Ohio’s main homeschool statute. · Frequency: Not required. · Records: Keep a copy of your annual notification and the superintendent’s acknowledgment. Families also commonly keep attendance records, work samples, and transcripts even though routine submission is no longer required.
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Oklahoma
Testing: No statewide testing requirement was identified for independent homeschoolers in the available raw sources. · Frequency: Not required. · Records: Oklahoma does not appear to require routine record submission for independent homeschoolers, but families should keep attendance records, course lists, work samples, grades, and high school transcripts in case questions arise.
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Oregon
Testing: Yes. Home-instructed students are generally examined in grades 3, 5, 8, and 10. · Frequency: At grades 3, 5, 8, and 10. If a student's score falls below the 15th percentile, or later shows decline, the statute can require additional testing within a year and may lead to supervision or a temporary return to school. · Records: Families should keep copies of their written notice to the education service district, the district's written acknowledgment, test information and results, any special education evaluation reports used instead of testing, attendance records, work samples, and high school transcripts.
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Pennsylvania
Testing: Yes. An annual written evaluation is generally required every year, and standardized testing is required in certain grades. · Frequency: Annual evaluation every year; standardized testing in grades 3, 5, and 8. · Records: Keep a portfolio for each student with a log made at the time of instruction, reading materials used, and samples of writings, worksheets, workbooks, or creative materials. Families also typically keep copies of the affidavit and annual evaluation, and the affidavit process references immunization and health records or lawful exemptions.
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Rhode Island
Testing: Not as a uniform statewide rule, but a local school committee may require progress reports, evaluations, or testing as part of the approval process. · Frequency: No single statewide schedule. Any evaluation or testing timeline is usually set by the local school committee. · Records: Keep attendance registers comparable to public school records and be ready to provide them to the school committee or other officials. Many families also keep curriculum plans, work samples, and progress records because local approval conditions can vary.
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South Carolina
Testing: It depends on the option. Option 1 requires participation in the annual statewide testing program and the Basic Skills Assessment Program. The available sources do not identify a general statewide testing requirement for Options 2 and 3. · Frequency: Annual under Option 1. Not generally identified in the available sources for Options 2 and 3. · Records: Recordkeeping depends on the option. Option 1 requires a plan book or diary of subjects and activities, a portfolio of student work, a record of academic progress assessments, and semiannual progress reports with attendance and individualized assessments. Option 3 requires educational records that include similar materials. Even when not clearly required in the same way under Option 2, families should keep attendance, work samples, course records, and high school transcripts.
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South Dakota
Testing: No statewide testing requirement was identified in the available sources. · Frequency: Not required. · Records: The available HSLDA guidance says South Dakota's alternative instruction statute does not require routine recordkeeping, but families should keep attendance records, curriculum information, work samples, correspondence, filed notification forms, and permanent high school records.
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Tennessee
Testing: Yes for some pathways. Tennessee says independent home school students must take the TCAP assessment in grades 5, 7, and 9. The state also says church-related umbrella schools are responsible for testing requirements for their students. Accredited online schools follow private-school rules. · Frequency: For independent home schools, at grades 5, 7, and 9. For umbrella students, testing depends on the enrolled school program. · Records: Record-keeping depends on the pathway. Independent home school families should keep copies of each Intent to Home School filing, attendance records, course lists, work samples, test records, and high school transcripts. Tennessee says church-related umbrella schools are responsible for student record-keeping and testing requirements for students enrolled through that option.
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Texas
Testing: No statewide testing or evaluation requirement for independent homeschoolers. · Frequency: Not required. · Records: Texas does not impose a statewide record-keeping requirement, but families often keep attendance, work samples, and transcripts anyway.
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Utah
Testing: No statewide testing requirement appears in the available Utah homeschool sources. The official FAQ says curriculum and assessment are the sole responsibility of the parent or guardian. · Frequency: Not required by the statewide homeschool rules shown in the available sources. · Records: Utah's official FAQ says the local board may not require instruction or attendance records from a homeschooling parent. Even so, families may still want to keep a notice copy, course descriptions, work samples, and transcripts for practical reasons such as reentry, college, or scholarships.
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Vermont
Testing: Yes. Vermont requires an annual assessment showing the student has made progress in the minimum course of study. · Frequency: Annually. · Records: Keep copies of your enrollment notice, the Agency of Education response, attendance-style records, course plans, work samples, and each year’s assessment results.
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Virginia
Testing: Yes for the main home instruction option. Families usually submit annual evidence of academic progress through a test, evaluation, or another accepted method. Other legal options can work differently. · Frequency: Annually for the main home instruction option. · Records: Keep a copy of your annual notice, proof that you qualify under an allowed option, curriculum information, test or evaluation results, and a solid transcript for high school.
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Washington
Testing: Yes. Each student must complete either an annual standardized achievement test approved by the state board or an annual assessment by a certificated person who is currently working in education. · Frequency: Annually. · Records: Keep annual test or assessment results and immunization records. Families often also keep attendance logs, course lists, and work samples for their own files.
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West Virginia
Testing: Yes. West Virginia requires an annual academic assessment for students using the home instruction pathway. Families may use a nationally normed standardized test, the state public-school testing program, a certified teacher portfolio review with written narrative, or another alternative academic assessment agreed to by the parent and county superintendent. · Frequency: Annual assessment is required. Results must be submitted to the county superintendent at grades 3, 5, 8, and 11 by June 30 of the year the assessment is administered. · Records: Parents should keep the notice of intent, proof of instructor qualification, attendance information, course plans, work samples, and especially copies of each student's academic assessment for at least three years because the statute expressly requires that retention period.
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Wisconsin
Testing: No statewide testing is required for independent homeschoolers. · Frequency: Not required. · Records: Wisconsin does not appear to impose heavy ongoing homeschool paperwork beyond the annual PI-1206 filing, but families should keep copies of every PI-1206 form, attendance or hour records showing 875 hours, curriculum and course lists, work samples, and high school records. The Wisconsin DPI says submitted PI-1206 forms are retained for seven years and parents remain responsible for keeping their own copies.
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Wyoming
Testing: No statewide testing is required in the reviewed sources for the main Wyoming homeschool option. · Frequency: Not required. · Records: The reviewed sources do not show a heavy Wyoming paperwork system for independent homeschoolers, but HSLDA recommends keeping an annual curriculum record, attendance records, book and workbook lists, work samples, correspondence with school officials, portfolios, test results if any, and permanent high school records.
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