District of columbia
Washington DC does not spell out a specific homeschool policy. It would appear that a homeschool would be considered an independent or private school. In order to homeschool, a parent need send a letter of intent to the school board, with the name, address, sex, and date of birth of each child.
Homeschoolers in the D.C. area have reported that the school board leaves them alone once they have filed their letter of intent.
• Compulsory Attendance Ages: Between 5 (by Dec. 31 of current school year) and 18 (§38-202)
• Required Days of Instruction: 180 days of attendance. (§38-202(a))
• Required Subjects: No specific subjects required for home schools (private instruction).
• Teacher Qualifications: None applicable to home schools.
• Standardized Testing: Not required.
• The only requirements which presently apply to home schools are:
a. "Each teacher who gives private instruction, shall, in accordance with the rules adopted by the Board, pursuant to subchapter I of chapter 15 of title 1, report to the Board the name, address, sex, and date of birth of each minor who resides permanently or temporarily in the District, who transfers between schools, or who enrolls in or withdraws from his or her school." The Board has never adopted any rules to implement this statute. Since the report referred to is to be submitted "in accordance with the rules adopted by the Board" and since no rules have been adopted, no report is presently required. (§38-201(1)(3)].
b. "An accurate daily record of the attendance of all minors … shall be kept … by every teacher who gives instruction privately. These records shall be open for inspection at all times by … persons authorized to enforce this chapter." (§ 38-203)
c. Home schooling is considered "private instruction."
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District of Columbia High School Graduation Requirements
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Math units: 3. To include Elementary Algebra. Eff. Class of 2011: 4, including Algebra I and geometry. Eff. Class of 2008, students must complete 1 unit Algebra I and/or a higher level course "and must enroll in the course no later than grade 9."
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Social studies units: 3.5. Eff. Class of 2011: 4. Pre-2011: Must include .5 unit D.C. History-Government, 1 unit U.S. History, .5 unit U.S. Government, 1 unit World History, .5 unit World Geography. Eff. Class of 2011: Must include World History 1 and 2; U.S. History; U.S. Government and DC History.
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Science units: 3. To include 1 unit lab science
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P.E./Health units: 1.5 - 1.5 units "health & physical education"
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Arts: 1. 1 unit of arts must be comprised of .5 unit art and .5 unit music
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Foreign language: 2
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Electives units: 4.5
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Other units: 1. Students must complete 1 unit "Career/Vocational Education" and 100 hours of community service (no units assigned to these hours).
TOTAL # units: 23.5. According to the District of Columbia Public Schools Web site, Banneker Senior High School and Duke Ellington School of the Arts students must complete 26 Carnegie units.
D.C. does not offer differentiated diploma pathways. D.C. does not have policy on awarding proficiency-based credit.
D.C. MUN. REGS., tit. 5, § 2202, 2203
Important Note: State Graduation requirements are not necessarily the best guideline for homeschoolers to use. They have been included here as a guideline for what a typical public school student would need to complete in order to graduate.
A more important guideline may be the College Entrance requirements for where your student would like to attend college. While colleges have differing requirements, there are many colleges that publish requirements for homeschool graduates.
Related Pages:
Homeschool Support Groups in District of columbia
Colleges in District of columbia