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.”
Therefore, an individual who does not meet any of the criteria from the previous page may receive permission from a school district superintendent to evaluate students. To receive this permission, the parent must request the superintendent to approve the person he/she wants to evaluate his children. The parent should write a letter requesting that the person be approved and make the superintendent aware of this provision, as most superintendents are unaware of this section of the home education law.
In the letter, the parent should include the following statement which includes a quote from the home education law: According to the Pennsylvania home education law (Act 169-1988) “At the request of the supervisor, persons with other qualifications (than those listed in the home education law) may conduct the evaluation with the prior consent of the district residence superintendent. In no event shall the evaluator be the supervisor or their spouse.”
To assure a positive answer, the potential evaluator may want to send a list of qualifications (education, teaching experience, involvement in home education, books read, workshops attended, workshops taught, etc.) to the superintendent.
Finally, conclude the letter with a paragraph similar to the following, “Please respond with your signature below. However, unless I hear otherwise from you in writing by [use a date 2 weeks after you plan to mail the letter], I will assume that my request has been granted.” This puts the burden on the superintendent to respond to you and you will not be left eternally wondering if your request has been approved.
At the bottom of the letter, put: [Evaluator’s name] is approved to do home education evaluations in the [school district’s name].” Include a signature line that is labeled “_____School District Superintendent” and a blank for the date it is signed. When it is returned, the evaluator and parent should keep the letter on file.