According to the PA Home Education Law, the following are qualified to be evaluators:
1 – PA Teacher with Certification, whether current or not.
- To evaluate portfolios at the elementary level (kindergarten through six), the teacher or administrator must have 2 years *grading experience in any of the following subjects: English, to include spelling, reading and writing; arithmetic; science; geography; history of the United States and Pennsylvania; and civics.
- To evaluate portfolios at the secondary level (grades seven through twelve) the teacher or administrator must have at least two years of experience in *grading any of the following subjects: English, to include language, literature, speech, reading and composition; science, to include biology, chemistry and physics; geography; social studies, to include economics, civics, world history, history of the United States and Pennsylvania; foreign language; and mathematics, to include general mathematics, algebra, trigonometry, calculus and geometry.
2 – Nonpublic Teacher
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- Any nonpublic teacher or administrator shall have at least two years of teaching experience in a Pennsylvania public or nonpublic school within the last ten years. Such nonpublic teacher or administrator shall have the required experience at the elementary level to evaluate elementary students or at the secondary level to evaluate secondary students.
3 – Licensed Clinical Psychologist
4 – Certified School Psychologist
* grading is defined as “evaluation of class work, homework, quizzes, class work-based tests and prepared tests related to class work subject matter”
IMPORTANT: The PA Home Education Law states, “In no event shall the evaluator be the supervisor or their spouse.” In other words, parents cannot evaluate their own children.
Another provision in the law states, “At the request of the supervisor, persons with other qualifications may conduct the evaluation with the prior consent of the district of residence superintendent.” If this is an option you wish to read further about, please click here.
Evaluators are also needed to pre-approve objectives for students with IEPs. If you are interested in providing this service, please click here to find out if you are qualified to pre-approve objectives.
Once you have ascertained you meet the requirements to be a PA evaluator, you can begin to evaluate students. You do not need to notify the school district.
If you are an elementary evaluator and would like to be added to our list of elementary evaluators, please complete the Elementary Evaluator Listing Request.
If you meet the qualifications to be an evaluator of secondary students and wished to be listed on our website, then you must apply to become an MDHSA Diploma Program Evaluator. (NOTE: You do NOT have to an MDHSA Diploma Program Evaluator to evaluate secondary students, but you MUST register as one if you a) plan to evaluate a student in our Diploma Program, or b) want to be listed as a secondary evaluator on our website.)For more information, visit Become a Diploma Program Evaluator: Responsibilities and Requirements