Hawaii
Education Code For Homeschooling
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Hawaii Administrative Rules
Title 8 Department of Education
Subtitle 2 Education Part I
Public Schools Chapter
12
This is not intended to be legal advice and is distributed
for information purposes only. Check for updates at your public
library or in other resources for
this law.
Ages: ". . . all children who will have arrived
at the age of 6 years, and who will not have arrived at
the age of 18 years, by January 1 of any school year .
. ." Haw. Rev. Stat. § 302A-1132
Table of
Contents
- §8-12-4 Conditions for exceptions
- §8-12-12 College entrance examination,
alternative education
- §8-12-13 Notification of intent
to home school
- §8-12-14 Required statutory services
- §8-12-15 Record of curriculum
- §8-12-16 Notification of termination
of home schooling
- §8-12-17 Educational neglect
- §8-12-18 Testing and progress
reports of home-schooled children
- §8-12-19 Instructional personnel
of home-schooled children
- §8-12-20 Credits
- §8-12-21 High school diploma for
home-schooled children
- §8-12-22 College entrance examination
and home-schooled children
§8-12-4 Conditions for exceptions.
School age children may be excepted from compulsory school attendance
in the following cases:
- Where a child is physically or mentally unable to attend
school, except for deafness and blindness, of which fact the
certificate of a duly licensed physician shall be sufficient
evidence;
- Where any child who has reached the fifteenth anniversary
of birth is suitably and lawfully employed;
- Where a family court judge has approved withdrawal from school;
- Where the superintendent of education or designee has approved
an appropriate alternative educational program, other than home
schooling; and
- Where the parent of a school age child has provided notification
of intent to home school the child.
[Eff. NOV 07 1991] (Auth: HRS §296-12,
298-9) (Imp: HRS §298-9)
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§8-12-12 College entrance examination,
alternative education.
A child in an alternative educational program may participate
in any college entrance examination which is made available to
all other students.
- [Eff. NOV 07 1991] (Auth: HRS §296-12,
298-9) (Imp: HRS §298-9)
Return to Table of Contents
§8-12-13 Notification of intent
to home school
(a) The parent shall provide the local public school principal
with a notice of intent to home educate the child before initiating
home schooling. The purpose of notification is to allow the department,
upon request of the parent, to assist in the educational efforts.
The notice of intent may be submitted on a department developed
form (Form OIS-4140) or in a letter containing the following
items:
- Name, address, and telephone number of the child;
- Birthdate and grade level of the child; and
- Signature of the parent.
(b) The notice of intent shall be acknowledged by the principal
and the district superintendent. The notice of intent is for
recordkeeping purposes and to protect families from unfounded
accusations of educational neglect or truancy.
(c) If a child's annual progress report has been submitted
as stated in §8-12-18(b), notification of intent to home
school need not be resubmitted annually, except in cases where
the child is transferring from one local public school to another,
for example, transition from sixth grade to an intermediate school.
Then the parents shall notify the principal of the child's new
local public school.
The parent(s) submitting a notice to home school a child shall
be responsible for the child's total educational program including
athletics and other co-curricular activities
- [Eff. NOV 07 1991] (Auth: HRS §296-12,
298-9) (Imp: HRS §298-9)
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§8-12-14 Required statutory
services.
All educational and related services statutorily mandated
shall be made available at the home public school site to home-schooled
children who have been evaluated and certified as needing educational
and related services and who request the services.
[Eff. NOV 07 1991] (Auth: HRS § 296-12,
298-9) (Imp: HRS §298-9)
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§8-12-15 Record of curriculum.
- The parent submitting a notice of intent to home school shall
keep a record of the planned curriculum for the child. The curriculum
shall be structured and based on educational objectives as well
as the needs of the child, be cumulative and sequential, provide
a range of up-to-date knowledge and needed skills, and take into
account the interests, needs and abilities of the child. The
record of the planned curriculum shall include the following:
- The commencement date and ending date of the program;
- A record of the number of hours per week the child spends
in instruction;
- The subject areas to be covered in the planned curriculum:
- An elementary school curriculum may include the areas of
language arts, mathematics, social studies, science, art, music,
health and physical education to be offered at the appropriate
development stage of the child;
- A secondary school curriculum may include the subject areas
of social studies, English, mathematics, science, health, physical
education and guidance.
- The method used to determine mastery of materials and subjects
in the curriculum; and
- A list of textbooks or other instructional materials which
will be used. The list shall be in standard bibliographical format.
For books, the author, title, publisher and date of publication
shall be indicated. For magazines, the author, article title,
magazine, date, volume number and pages shall be indicated.
[Eff. NOV 07 1991] (Auth: HRS § 296-12,
298-9) (Imp: HRS §298-9)
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§8-12-16 Notification of termination
of home schooling.
The parent shall notify the principal if home schooling is
terminated. A child shall be reenrolled in the local public school
or licensed private school unless a new alternative educational
program is presented within five school days after the termination
of home schooling.
[Eff. NOV 07 1991] (Auth: HRS § 296-12,
298-9) (Imp: HRS §298-9)
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§8-12-17 Educational neglect.
If there is reasonable cause for the principal to believe
that there is educational neglect, the department in compliance
with §289-9, Hawaii Revised Statutes, shall intervene and
take appropriate action in accordance with established departmental
procedures. Reasonable cause for educational neglect shall not
be based on the refusal of parents to comply with any requests
which exceed the requirements of this chapter.
[Eff. NOV 07 1991] (Auth: HRS § 296-12,
298-9) (Imp: HRS §298-9)
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§8-12-18 Testing and progress
reports of home-schooled children.
- Test scores shall be required for grades identified in the
Statewide Testing Program, grades three, five [NEW], eight, and
ten. A child is eligible to participate in the Statewide Testing
Program at the local public school. The parent is responsible
for securing necessary details from the principal of the local
public school. The parent may elect to arrange for private testing
at the parent's own expense. The tests used shall be comparable
to the appropriate criterion or norm-referenced tests used by
the department in the grades concerned. The parent may request
and the principal may approve other means of evaluation to meet
the Statewide Testing Program requirements.
- The parent shall submit to the principal an annual report
of a child's progress. One of the following methods shall be
used to demonstrate satisfactory progress;
- A score on a nationally-normed standardized achievement test
which demonstrates grade level achievement appropriate to a child's
age;
- Progress on a nationally-normed standardized achievement
test that is equivalent to one grade level per calendar year,
even if the overall achievement falls short of grade level standards;
- A written evaluation by a person certified to teach in the
State of Hawaii that a child demonstrates appropriate grade level
achievement or significant annual advancement commensurate with
a child's abilities; and
- A written evaluation by the parent which shall include:
- (A) A description of the child's progress in each subject
area included in the child's curriculum;
- (B) Representative samples of the child's work; and
- (C) Representative tests and assignments including grades
for courses if grades are given.
- When tests are administered under Statewide Testing Program
for grades three, six, eight and ten, the parent may choose to
have the child participate in the school's testing program and
have the results serve as a means of assessing annual progress
for that year.
- The principal shall review the adequacy of a child's progress.
If progress is not adequate, the principal shall meet with the
parent to discuss the problems and help establish a plan for
improvement. In this case, the principal may request and the
parents shall share their record of the child's planned curriculum.
When standardized tests scores are used, adequate progress shall
be considered to be scores/stanines in the upper two thirds of
the scores/stanines. Unless progress is inadequate for two consecutive
semesters, based on a child's scores on a norm-referenced test
for that grade level or the written evaluation by a person certified
to teach in the State of Hawaii, recommendations to enroll the
child in a public or private school or to take legal action for
educational neglect shall be prohibited. No recommendations shall
be made for a child before the third grade.
[Eff. NOV 07 1991] (Auth: HRS §296-12,
298-9) (Imp: HRS §298-9)
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§8-12-19 Instructional personnel
of home-schooled children.
A parent teaching the parent's child at home shall be deemed
a qualified instructor.
[Eff. NOV 07 1991] (Auth: HRS § 296-12,
298-9) (Imp: HRS §298-9)
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§8-12-20 Credits.
No course credits (Carnegie units) are granted for time spent
being home-schooled children.
[Eff. NOV 07 1991] (Auth: HRS § 296-12,
298-9) (Imp: HRS §298-9)
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§8-12-21 High school diploma
for home-schooled children.
(a) A home-schooled child who wants to earn a high school
diploma from the local public high school shall attend high school
for a minimum of three full years to meet the twenty credit requirement
for graduation. Satisfactory performance on the Hawaii State
Test of Essential Competencies (HSTEC) is also required.
(b) A home-schooled child who wants to earn a high school
diploma from the community school for adults shall meet the following
requirements:
- Be at least seventeen years of age, except in the case of
emancipated minors;
- Has been home-schooled for at least one semester under Hawaii's
home-schooling procedures; and
- Takes and achieves a satisfactory score on the General Educational
Development (GED) test.
The diploma shall be awarded by the community school for adults.
[Eff. NOV 07 1991] (Auth: HRS § 296-12,
298-9) (Imp: HRS §298-9)
Return to Table of Contents
§8-12-22 College entrance examination
and home-schooled children.
A child who is being home schooled may participate in any
college entrance examination which is made available to all other
students. The principal of the local public high school shall,
upon request, supply written acknowledgment that a child has
been home schooled in compliance with the requirements of this
chapter.
[Eff. NOV 07 1991] (Auth: HRS §296-12,
298-9) (Imp: HRS §298-9)
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Other resources for this law
Homeschooling: Hawaii Department of Education
Chapter
12, Compulsory Attendance Exceptions
Hawai'i
Regulations
Hawai'i has a state-run public school system. The rules governing
homeschooling in Hawai'i are found in Chapter 12, "Compulsory
Attendance Exceptions" of the Hawai'i Administrative Rules
for the Department of Education. On the Hawaii Homeschool Association
website.
Return to Hawaii homeschooling
information.
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