Massachusetts
• Compulsory Attendance Ages: 6 by December 31 of that school year to 16 yrs of age.
• Required Days of Instruction: None required, but school districts will use the public school's required number of days and hours of instruction time for purposes of comparison, i.e., 180 days; 900 hours at the elementary level and 990 hours at the secondary level.
• Required Subjects: Reading, writing, English language and grammar, geography, arithmetic, drawing, music, history and constitution of United States, duties of citizenship, health (including CPR), physical education, and good behavior.
• Teacher Qualifications: None.
• Standardized Tests: Parents have two choices
1) A parent could submit standardized test results (school officials may insist that a neutral third party administer the test); or,
2) Parents could submit an alternative form of assessment. This typically consists of progress reports, dated work samples, portfolio review, or an assessment by a certified teacher of the parent's choice.
• Home School Statute: None.
• Alternative Statutes Allowing for Home Schools: Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 76, § 1. A "child who is otherwise being instructed in a manner approved in advance by the superintendent or the school committee."
• 1. A Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts case, Care and Protection of Charles, 399 Mass. 324, 333-34, 504 N.E.2d 592, 598-99 (1987), ruled that parents have a right to educate their children at home, but it must be reconciled with the state interest in the education of its citizenry. According to Care and Protection of Charles, the school committee must give parents an opportunity to explain their home school plan and present witnesses on their behalf. The school has the right to inquire in four areas (this information should be included in a home schooler's initial letter to the school district):
a. The school committee may examine the competency of the parents to teach their children, but may not require certification, advanced degrees or college degrees.
b. The school committee must have access to textbooks and lesson plans, but "only to determine the types of subjects to be taught and the grade level of the instruction for comparison purposes with the curriculum of the public schools." The school committee or superintendent may "not dictate the manner in which the subjects will be taught." 504 N.E.2d at p. 602.
c. Also, information on the number of hours and days (180) of instruction may be requested.
d. The school committee may require periodic standardized testing; the school authorities may decide where and with what test testing will be done, "in consultation with the parents." Other means of evaluating the progress of the children, such as progress reports or home visits, may be substituted for the formal testing process, but only "subject to the approval of the parents." 504 N.E.2d at pp. 601-02.
• Home visits are unconstitutional if imposed against the parent's objection.
• 2. In the Matter of Johnna M. Searles, No. 9037CH0017, District Court of the Amesbury Division, Sept. 4, 1990, the Court considered the school district's "request that the [home schooled] child be ordered to enroll in the … public schools pending the approval of a home education program." The Court agreed ruled the child did not have to be in public school while waiting for the school district to approve the home school and that "the interests of all parents are best served if they proceed expeditiously in a serious effort to resolve the matter by agreement." The Court also remarked if an order to put children in school was to be obtained, the school district would first have to prove children were not receiving regular and thorough instruction.
3. If a home school is rejected after seeking approval, the burden of proof shifts to the school authorities to show that the proposed home school instruction fails to equal "in thoroughness and efficiency, and in the progress made therein, that in the public schools in the same town." Home education is a "right protected by the Fourteenth Amendment." The object of the statute is "that all children shall be educated, not that they shall be educated in any particular way."
4. Nearly each one of the 481 school districts has different rules for home schools, demonstrating the vagueness of the law.
5. "School committees shall approve a private school when satisfied that the instruction in all the studies required by law equals in thoroughness and efficiency, and in the progress made therein, that in the public schools in the same town, but shall not withhold such approval on account of religious teaching…." Mass. Gen. Laws ch. 76, § 1
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Massachusetts State High School Graduation Standards:
There is no statewide definition for High School Graduation Requirements. Each local school board defines graduation requirements for its district. These vary from district to district. The state considers a graduate to be any student who has met the graduation requirements for his or her local school district.
Important Note: State and Local 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 Massachusetts
Colleges in Massachusetts